Pieces of meat, fish, or vegetables roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit. A Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking method now popular worldwide.
From Arabic kabāb, possibly from Aramaic kabāba meaning 'to burn' or 'char.' The word traveled through Persian and Turkish before entering European languages, spreading with the cooking technique along trade routes.
Kebabs represent one of humanity's oldest cooking methods - roasting meat on sticks over fire - yet the word traveled across continents and cultures, picking up variations like shish kebab (Turkish for 'skewer roast') and döner kebab ('rotating roast'). Each culture added its own linguistic flavor to this ancient technique.
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