I feel like everyone in the whole wide world has seen this film, read the comic book or has at the very least heard about The Avengers and all the other aspects of the Marvel Universe. The third installment of this particular film set has just been released, and while I wait for my husband to have a day off so we can check out Infinity War, I was reminded about the food reference from the first Avengers film.
The food reference comes during the last battle of the film where Iron Man rips through one of the huge alien/whale/ beast thingies, (a Leviathan). He lands next to a shawarma restaurant. Later in the battle after getting knocked out, he wakes up and looks up at Captain America saying he would like to try some shawarma.
“You ever try shawarma? There’s a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don’t know what it is, but I want to try it.” -Iron Man, The Avengers, 2012
After the end credits there is an added scene where the Avengers sit down together and enjoy some shawarma. They don’t talk, there’s no background music, it’s just them sitting around a table at this destroyed restaurant, eating their food in silence, while the employees clean up debris. I love this scene and I find it to be a really humorous addition to the film.
I have found several possible meanings behind the shawarma scene and what it is really about. In my research I found this article… and it states that the scene stems from Robert Downey Jr.’s desire to make his dialogue a bit snappier in the fight scene when he says the bit about the shawarma. The director of the film, Joss Whedon, realized the full comic potential of this line after the film’s premiere and re-gathered the cast to shoot the shawarma scene, making the earlier bit of dialogue a lot funnier.
I think this scene is also one of those times where we get to see the heroes as people. They may not all be human exactly, but it gives them a depth of character that you don’t normally get in movies. You can see that the aftermath of the battle on the restaurant and on the Avengers. It’s a fresh perspective in a superhero film.
Like Tony Stark I had never heard of shawarma before this, and I was really curious to try it. Shawarma is one of the world’s most popular street foods. I looked up several articles online and found it to be a meat preparation, where chicken, lamb, beef, or mixed meats are placed on a vertical spit, and grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, and the remainder of the block of meat is kept heated on the rotating spit. Shawarma is served on a plate with accompaniments, or as a sandwich or wrap. Accompaniments include feta, hummus, tomato, cucumber or really anything you want to have with it.
I do not have the capability to cook it in the traditional way, on a spit, so I decided to cook it on the grill to give it the same charred quality. After making this recipe I heard that a lot of the new air fryers are now equipped with spits for cooking so I may remake this recipe in the future, trying this method.
I put the marinade together and was a bit apprehensive because of the color. It was an orange color with flecks of red and for some reason just didn’t smell like much so I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. During grilling, I was pleasantly surprised by the great smell, and then when done it has a great taste and texture. The onion transformed into a melt-in-your-mouth kind of thing!
I wanted to try a bunch of different flavors with the chicken to see what I liked best, so I had some on a plate with different accompaniments and the rest in a wrap with the same ingredients. From my understanding there are no hard and fast rules for this, you can enjoy it with whatever you like. It was delicious!
I am hoping to find a tasty reference in the new film; until then, making this one from the first Avengers film will just have to tide me over.
Chicken Shawarma
- 2-3 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled, smashed and minced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoons paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- A pinch ground cinnamon
- Red pepper flakes, to taste
- 1 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 large red onion, peeled and quartered
- Prepare a marinade for the chicken. Combine the lemon juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cinnamon and red pepper flakes in a large bowl, then whisk to combine. Add the chicken and toss well to coat. Cover and store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 12 hours.
- Grill chicken on a pre-heated BBQ until cooked all the way through, turning to create nice grill marks.
- Serve in a wrap or on a platter with pita, cucumber, tomatoes, hummus, feta cheese, really anything you like!
