At Iyana-Era, a busy bus-stop along Lagos-Badagry Expressway, Lagos, a group of students, comprising boys and girls gathered at a Shawarma spot, some pointing at wraps of the snack while the others were on the entourage to purchase and have a taste of the snack their friends were about to buy.

Ever since the snack was introduced into the junk list in the country, and Nigerians fell in love with the delicious fast food item, Shawarma spots have been sprouting up in several urban towns across the country like a fast-spreading heat rash, almost as ubiquitous as POS operators, which now render routine banking services, which used to take customers to the banking halls.

There is hardly any street in Lagos where one would not sight a Shawarma spot. Even the organised eateries in places like Okota, Surulere, Egbeda, Ejigbo, Ikotun, Dopemu, Ikeja, Ojota, Yaba and other parts of Lagos metropolis have jumped into the Shawarma bandwagon, to the joy of their regular customers who buy it along with other items. Shawarma originated from the Levantine Arab world and then spread to other parts of the world.

The depth of its acceptability was made very real recently in a Volkswagen LT35 commuter bus, where three female secondary students Joan, Bukky and Grace shared one seat in the vehicle, one person sitting on the thighs of the other, in the typical fashion known in Lagos as lapping, from Oshodi to Ikotun, to economize their transport fare and save part of it to buy Shawarma at their final bus top. 

Their sitting arrangement definitely disturbed other passengers on the same row. Initially, I thought they managed what their parents gave them until a polite inquiry revealed the reason for the discomforting mountainous arrangement in the vehicle. Grace who was sandwiched between Bukky and Joan said: “We want to use our money to buy Shawarma when we alight from the vehicle.” So what’s the big deal about Shawarma, she was prodded? She said: “It is very delicious and finger-licking good.”

The strong patronage by young people has created a huge boost for people to own and operate the Shamarwa spots. Incidentally, Shawarma business is a male dominated enterprise that has attracted even graduates of tertiary institutions.

Take the case of Blessing Howells from Delta State, who runs his business on Dopemu-Orisumbare axis, near Idimu. Howells studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering and graduated from the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI), Warri in Delta State in 2017.

He tells his story: “While waiting for my national youth service call-up letter, I worked with someone at Ibeju-Lekki who had foods business by the side. I worked for a few months before I left for the national service in Benin City, Edo State. I served my primary assignment at a local government, where I had less to do. I used the opportunity to work in finger foods business that served Shawarma, various barbeque, popcorn, pizza, club sandwiches etc. With time, I managed the place for the owner until I rounded off my service year and returned to Lagos. I went back to Ibeju-Lekki to continue the business with my former boss. Two months at my new place, I was knocked down by a vehicle and my pelvis was broken. From Ibeju-Lekki I was brought to a traditional orthopaedic facility at Caroline, near Orisumbare, where I spent five months before I was able to stand up and walk. Given the course I studied, if I got employed, I might not be able to meet the physical requirement of the job. Since I was already with preparing fast food items, I started with popcorn first. Then COVID-19 affected the sales, I tried my hand on Shawarma. It picked up gradually and the business boomed. Since then, it has been performing fantastically beyond my expectation. Now, by God’s grace we have traffic. Some workers pay for Shawarma and pick it up on their way home. With my experience on a daily basis, we go home with a big smile.”

Jeffries Marlon is from Cote D’voire who runs Options Kitchen that offers Shawarma in the Shasha neighbourhood of Egbeda. With an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Mathematics and Statistics, he went into events management in Ivory Coast.

 “I used to follow my mother in her daily business activities from where I learnt all that I do today. I initially wanted to go to Kenya, but changed my mind and came to Nigeria. My first port of call was Ibadan in Oyo State, from where I relocated to Lagos. I started cooking and streaming online and regular orders were rolling in and from there I started offering Chinese rice, Spaghetti bolognaise, noodles, all barbeques and cocktails while the demand for Shawarma and small chops intensified. Then I added attractive symbols like baking and grilling burner machines to entice customers. That was how Shawarma business with a difference started.

On his unique selling point, Marlon said: “I do not use the ingredients like Maggi and Knorr cubes, I rather use our local herbal ingredients in making my Shawarma and sell a wrap with single hotdog for N700 while with double hotdog goes for N1,000. I sell at least five packs of the pita bread with which we wrap the fillings.

“Most people use only the burner for Shawarma, it is supposed to be the two machines. So, when we set and stand the appetizing meat on the grilling machine, it also attracts customers. Dry patronage was our first challenge, but with time business picked up and we see traffic because of local spices, grilled meat and neat ambience. Once food is tested and trusted, people will surely buy it because most of people do not cook regularly. I have three staffers and a delivery man that God blessed me with.” 

Shawarma business has become the fastest growing enterprise as a lot of people are into the trade. Though prices of foodstuffs have skyrocketed with a bag of cabbage that was sold for N8,000 now sells for N17,000, a carton of chicken used to be N12,000 is now sold for N22,000, the demand for Shawarma continues to rise. People often order for 50 to 100 pieces of Shawarma to boost their parties, especially that it could serve as breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Young people mill around Ilemba, Shibri and Ilogbo-Elegba to have a taste of the yummy snack in all these areas.

Jimmy Yayo from Akwa Ibom State is the major man that thrills his retinue of clients with Asian Sharwarma which his Lebanese boss taught him.

 “I was trained on finger foods by my Lebanese boss at Mega Plaza in Victoria Island. I learnt how to prepare the best of pizzas, shawarma, hot dog, Lebanese and Chinese boneless foods with their type of fried and Chinese rice. Most of them do not eat our type of Shawarma with cream, rather their pita bread is stuffed with garlic and boneless meat. I left my Lebanese boss to start mine four years ago. For this business, if you know how to do it, you will make profit, but if you do not know how to do it, the person would fold up. 

“My boss taught me Asian Shawarma which would cut down the grilled chicken inside the tray, add the salad and cream, then mix up everything together; the cream is supposed to penetrate the other ingredients very well, before portioning and wrapping up with the pita bread. The idea of adding stuffs one after the other was not how my boss taught me. At Mega Plaza then, we had customers who loved their Shawarma with suya pepper, some did not like pepper in theirs. My boss also taught me to use normal food paper to wrap not the A4 paper type, but I have to resort to A4 because of the rising cost of materials. I was also taught to use soft chicken instead of the normal fat meaty chicken known as ‘orobo’. As fast as it is prepared, the marinated chicken on the Shawarma grill should cook well before cutting and sharing,” Yayo said.

 As yummy as the consumers have proclaimed, there might also be some unhealthy side effects of consuming Shawarma. 

On whether Shawarma is healthy or not, the Assistant Director, Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), Blessing Nwazuluoke, said:  “It depends on a number of factors like the cooking method, ingredients and preparation. When the meat is grilled, baked and boiled it is healthy. But when the meat is fried in oil, it is unhealthy. Fried foods are unhealthy, not just because of their saturated fats or cholesterol content, but because when foods are fried, the fat used in frying those foods are changed into trans-fatty acid which causes atherosclerosis which leads to heart diseases. Free radicals also emanate from frying foods and do a lot of oxidation to the body that could predispose it to cancer. 

“Cooking method used in the preparation depends on how healthy the food is. Ingredients like animal source protein are not good, instead lean meat and key vegetables like fresh tomatoes, cabbage, garlic, lettuce and onions. With these contents, Shawarma would be healthy because the fillings are good sources of Vitamin C, magnesium, potassium and folic acid. Shawarma is also laden with a lot of salt and sodium from the seasonings which is not healthy. Some can contain 250-600MD sodium to be consumed at a sitting. 

“Too much sodium predisposes one to hypertension which leads to renal problems and cardio-vascular problem. Fried ingredients for Shawarma are not healthy instead the meat should be grilled or baked. Some vendors do not add enough fresh vegetables because profit must be made. Again, when the wrong type of fat is used, it becomes unhealthy and creates double problem. Instead of the normal mayonnaise which contains egg yolk and fat, avocado should be the alternative. Then, if oil must be used, it must be pure olive, soy-bean, original groundnut oil; not oil that contains saturated fat. 

“For the bread, Shawarma is actually energy-dense, a wrap could give 400-800 calorie depending on the size. That is a lot of energy to consume at a sitting. Over time, regular consumption and a lot of it would make some gain weight with sedentary lifestyle would lead to obesity which subsequently leads to diabetes, cardiovascular diseases even to cancer. If it is prepared with a light quantity of bread, right type of oil, stuffed with a lot of fresh vegetables, then it will be healthy.”

She added that there is need for environmental hygiene, advising that Shawarma prepared at home is much better than the ones bought by roadside to avoid food poisoning and gastrointestinal problem.     

In the same vein, Mrs Chioma Onyenweaku, lecturer and nutritionist, said: “The effect of eating Shawarma on a daily basis will lead to an increase in the blood sugar levels and make the person overweight. If not properly controlled this might result into serious health condition like obesity, diabetics and cardiovascular disease. Shawarma is highly loaded with calories, about 1000 due its size and heavily loaded with sauce ingredients. It is meant to be a snack that should be eaten in a very controlled portion.”

On the regulation of the operators, NAFDAC Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Abubakar Jimoh, said: “The issue of Shawarma as a product does not fall within the purview of NAFDAC as a regulatory body because the agency deals with processed food; that is the organization’s statutory mandate; but over the time, NAFDAC has also decided to exercise some oversight functions over restaurants because of the issue of quality and foods.

“We chose to do that because once Nigerians hear anything food either raw or processed, it is regarded as NAFDAC’s mandate and our understanding is that when there is any challenge the society would ask, why didn’t NAFDAC help out. So, Shawarma as a product lies within the statutory mandate of the local governments. It is the function of health officers of the local governments to go round and ensure that sanity and hygiene are achieved.”

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