DUBAI: Everyone has had a hankering for a late-night shawarma, but not every consumer can tuck into the meaty dishes.
Dubai’s Levantine street food eatery Zaroob has stepped in to fill that gap in the hungry market by launching an unexpected partnership with Impossible Foods to present what they are dubbing the world’s first vegan shawarma.
Accoridng to the makers, it took two months of innovation to perfect the new shawarma.
Zaroob’s brand manager Elie Saade told Arab News that the two main challenges that they and US company Impossible Foods faced when making the shawarma was “texture and taste.”
According to the makers, it took two months of innovation to perfect the new shawarma. (Supplied)
He said: “The taste of the meat was made possible not just with the Impossible meat, but also with our special Zaroob marination, which gave the meat the right taste.
“The texture was a bit more challenging because the shawarma meat is a muscle and it’s very challenging to replicate. So, we had to do some culinary innovation by implementing a unique cooking technique to get the right texture.”
This developmental phase was a labor of love, with teams enjoying several taste tests. “It took multiple trials in order to get the right product and make it scalable in terms of production,” he said.
California-based Impossible Foods and Zaroob released three different varieties of the shawarma: an Arabic bread option, a saj bread choice and a shawarma platter.
Saade said that more diners are starting to follow “a more flexitarian diet in which they started substituting animal meat for plant-based meat.”
While this shawarma is a welcome addition to the menu, Levantine food has long been known for its vegan-friendly options such as hummus, fattoush, tabbouleh, falafel, lentils, beans and stuffed grape leaves.
Impossible Foods’ flagship product, the versatile and delicious Impossible Beef, launched in the UAE in 2021.