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For most Londoners, kebabs are the culinary equivalent of a Farrelly Brothers movie: crude, vulgar and to be enjoyed late at night only when really pissed. The downmarket image of UK kebabs is largely due to our experience of the post-pub dodgy döner (literally ‘turning roast meat’ in Turkish, also known as ‘shawarma’ in Arabic) made with poor-quality meat and too much fat, sold in harshly lit late-night takeaways. But like mushy peas and beans on toast, kebabs are enjoying an upmarket renaissance, with gourmet kebab restaurants springing up all over town (see Critics’ Choice right).

The traditional Arabic shawarma is made by marinating slices of lamb or mutton in onion juice, parsley, wild marjoram and mint, then clumping them in a conical shape on to a vertical spit, which is rotated in front of a tiered charcoal grill. When cooked, the meat is shaved from the surface and eaten with flatbreads. Quite appetising, in fact.

Across North Africa (particularly Morocco), the Middle East (especially Turkey and Iran) and India, kebabs come in thousands of mouthwatering varieties. The most famous is Turkish i kebabiu (literally ‘meat pieces cooked on a skewer’) – or ‘shish kebab’ – made by threading chunks of marinated mutton, veal or buffalo with mutton fat or pork belly, onions, peppers and tomatoes on skewers. Variations of shish exist in practically every culture. The Greek version, usually made from pork or lamb, is called souvlaki (from ‘souvla’, meaning ‘skew’ or ‘prick’) or kalamaki (from ‘kalami’, meaning ‘wooden skewers’). Popular in Russia, Georgia and Armenia, the east European version – skewers of lamb chunks marinated in red wine, lemon, sage and rosemary – is shashlik (‘skewer’ in Russian). The Indian variation is seekh kebab: skewers of lamb meatballs laced with ground almonds, roasted chickpea flour, garlic, ginger, green chilli, fresh coriander and lemon juice. All variations are eaten with local flatbreads or rice, plus pickles, savoury dips, onions, chillis, lemon or lime wedges, salads and yoghurt.

Kebabs are thought to have originated in Asia Minor. The earliest written recipe for kebab – ‘kebab khalis’ – is found in a tenth-century Iraqi cookery book, in which thinly sliced lean meat is salted and cooked in a frying pan without fat, though some version of the kebab is known to have already existed in India. Originally kebabs were seasoned only with salt, then fresh herbs were thrown on to the charcoal to add flavouring, and marinades were introduced to tenderise unusual meats and mask their gamey taste.