LIMASSOL may soon become the home of the world’s largest doner kebab, which will contain 1,300 kilos of chicken meat and serve up to 15,000 portions at a charitable event scheduled for May 6.
Measuring one and a half by two metres, the giant kebab aims to smash the world record set in 1998 by Turk Kadir Cetinkaya at the Zurich Summer Festival. His lamb and veal skewer weighed 1,030kg and measured 1.2 by 1.6 metres.
Event organisers, which include Sam’s Food restaurant, the Limassol Rotary Club and the Municipal Council of Limassol, will serve pieces of the kebab on Lebanese pitta-style bread with garlic and tahini for £1 each.
Sammy Eid, owner of Sam’s Food, plans to use 1,500 chickens in the oversized skewer, which he will be prepare on a special machine, with help from 10 staff from his restaurant.
An additional three or four sponsors are expected to join the event, among them two local drink manufacturers and banks, Panicos Loizou, President of the Limassol Rotary Club told the Cyprus Mail.
“The money will be collected by Limassol Rotary Club and we will use it for charitable and community projects in Limassol and in Cyprus in general,” Loizou said.
He estimates that the event will earn a minimum of £20,000, although he is not sure how the proceeds will be divided up between different causes. “We don’t know how much will go for each purpose because we are still not sure how many people will buy from us.”
The event will begin at around 10am, when the mayor of Limassol, Demetris Kontides, will come to weigh the cleaned kebab meat, following the Guinness book of Records procedure.
“He will testify that it is the correct weight and certify that all the meat will be put onto a special skewer,” Loizou explained.
Afterwards, he said, they will begin cooking the meat and hope to begin serving it by 12.30pm.
The event will take place on Limassol’s promenade near the old harbour, although the municipal committee, which is in charge of securing a venue, has yet to decide on the exact location.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
