Shawarma – how I miss thee. Your were the savior of my three week flirtation with vegetarianism. Without you, I may never have eaten meat while in Israel. Chez Claude was the most frequented eating establishment in Netanya because the Shawarma was amazing.

Not knowing what I was getting myself into, I quickly learned. Shawarma is rotisserie meat wrapped inside a giant pita with hummus and your choice of items, including french fries, and then rolled up like a burrito. It is the Middle Eastern cousin to the Gyro, yet so much better. For us swimmers, it became one of our many addictions. Yet it was one I did not want to leave behind.