Doner Kebab

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:15 AM +0100 5/23/01, Lynne Murphy wrote:
>  >
>>  >DONER KEBAB
>>  >
>>  >    This was served all over at the Turkish restaurants that I saw in
>>  >Frankfurt, Germany.  OED has 1958.
>>
>>  My first impression on reading the subject line was 'Donner (party) kebab',
>>  then thought better of it.
>>
>>  The recipe actually sounds delicious, but if I'm instantly reminded
>>  cannibalism, it would be one explanation of why it does not appear on
>>  American menus.
>
>But it's  a fast food staple of the UK.
>
Actually that would be consistent with the taboo avoidance theory,
since the fate of the Donner party in the high Sierras of California
is unlikely to have much resonance for Britishers.  But the spelling
and pronunciation of the kebab/kebap (with fronted/umlauted o on
Doner) rule out any real possibility for confusion.

larry

"Donner Party, your table is ready"