Shawarmageddon: Outcry as Moscow Tries to Ban the Kebab

The Moscow mayor's office triggered panic among meat lovers when the head of its Department of Trade and Services vowed to wipe out shawarma and other street foods from the capital.

Alexey Nemeryuk told national tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda that street vendors such as makers of the Middle Eastern dishes kebab and shawarma would be closed for health reasons.

"We are taking shawarma off our streets. It will be no more," Nemeryuk said. "The mere fact that it is prepared in a tent where there is no water supply, no sewage system, food storage standards are not met, is already putting consumers off the food made there."

Those consumers, it seems, are in the minority. Within hours, the protest hashtag #ШаурмаЖиви (Shawarma Lives) was already a top five trend in Moscow and popular in other Russian cities

Twitter users warned the mayor not to deprive them of the "divine food", admitting they were already "mourning" the Middle Eastern wrap. "Shawarmageddon!," some cried. "Shawarma-genocide!," others responded.

Users were quick to note that Moscow's harsh persecution of shawarma made it seem as if authorities feared the food was being served by Islamist group Islamic State (ISIS). One user even suggested that Russian lawmakers would now make it mandatory to preface public mentions of shawarma with "the dish banned in Moscow," just as mentions of ISIS must now begin with "the group banned in Russia".

Some created fake endorsements from Russian President Vladimir Putin, to drum up support for shawarma.

Other users turned to a higher power (arguably), tweeting images of the Virgin Mary embracing a shawarma.

And German Chancellor Angela Merkel's skills with a kebab knife were also used to endorse the food.

Leonardo DiCaprio's affections for Kate Winslet in Titanic were instead diverted to the shaved-meat sandwich.

While other users posted images of their own shawarma, defiant of plans to ban the street food.

Following the outcry, Nemeryuk appeared to backpedal, telling Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that "there are no plans to demolish or close legal sellers of shawarma."

He said only vendors who do not meet regulations would face closures and estimated that no more than a dozen of those remain in Moscow.