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Munchies

Portraits of Europe's Most Popular Kebabs

From the famous Turkish döner of Berlin to Holland’s monster kapsalon topped with Gouda, kebabs are Europe’s favourite drunk food. We took a look at how this grilled meat snack differs around the Continent.

It can be difficult to navigate a European city you've never visited before. There's the language barrier, the incomprehensible public transport system, the confusing cultural customs, and the underlying fear that everyone might kinda hate foreigners.

When faced with such uncertainty, something that can provide much needed comfort is the neon-lit sight of a kebab shop. "People eat kebabs here, it can't be that different," you think, excitedly counting out unfamiliar coins. As you take your first bite of meat and bread, you realise that it tastes just like anything you'd have back home on a Friday night … actually, wait, what's in this sauce? Do they put cabbage in kebabs in here? And how did they make the hummus taste like that?

Thanks to waves of migration from Turkey and the Middle East, kebabs are a popular late-night snack pretty much everywhere in Europe, but their fillings, sauces, and accompanying carbs are as diverse as the people who live there. We decided to speak to VICE editors from across the Continent about how kebabs are eaten in their home country, and find out what it is about strips of meat covered in hot sauce and encased in bread that speaks to people across country lines.

After all, at a time when growing nationalism threatens to divide Europe, we could do with finding things that bring us together—even if that is greasy drunk food.