Shish kebab

Shish kebab consists of meat cut into cubes, threaded onto skewers, and grilled. It belongs to the broader category of kebab, which encompasses various meat dishes that trace their roots to the Middle East. In North American English, the term "kebab" by itself typically refers to shish kebab, whereas elsewhere it can also denote doner kebab. Lamb is the traditional meat, but versions using other meats, poultry, or fish are common.

The word’s origins are debated. According to the Persian dictionary of Dehkhoda, "shish" may come from the Persian word for the number six, referencing the original six pieces of meat on a standard skewer, or from the Late Middle Persian "Sich," meaning skewer. The word "kebab" entered English by the late 17th century, derived from Arabic كَبَاب (kabāb), partly through Urdu, Persian, and Turkish. Etymologist Sevan Nişanyan links it to the Akkadian "kabābu" and Aramaic "kbabā" (כבבא), both meaning "frying" or "burning." The Oxford English Dictionary records its first known English publication in Sinclair Lewis’s 1914 novel Our Mr. Wrenn.

Evidence of kebabs appears in the 17th century BC Minoan civilization. Homer’s Odyssey describes skewering strips of meat for broiling, which Clifford A. Wright considers an early form of shish kebab. In Classical and Hellenistic Greece, kebabs were prepared at ancient Athenian tavernas, grilled on an eschara. The Byzantine Empire also featured kebabs, with iconographic evidence showing Byzantine Greeks making them.

In Egypt, several shish kebab varieties are popular. Skewers of grilled, seasoned ground meat are called kofta, while shish taouk consists of grilled, marinated chicken chunks.