Gyros

Greece's vertical-spit kebab stacks slices of marinated pork, or chicken, on an upright skewer, roasts them as it turns, shaves them off in thin strips and folds them into a grilled pita with tzatziki, tomato, onion and a handful of fried potatoes: that is gyros. The word means a turn or circle, from the same root as gyroscope, and the dish arrived in Greece with the döner tradition brought by refugees from Asia Minor in the 1920s; the pita wrap in its present form took shape in Athens after the Second World War. Outside Greece, especially in the United States, gyros usually means a pressed loaf of minced lamb and beef, a Chicago factory product from the 1970s, which is a different thing. In Greece pork is the default, chicken the common alternative, and lamb a rarity.