Mohammad Abutaha - Shawarmaji

In 2018, after years of missing the shawarma of his Jordan homeland, Mohammad purchased a rickety shawarma machine online and began to practice making his own. Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish of thin slices of roasted meat that's generally cooked and shaved on a revolving spit. He longed to replicate the more traditional way of presenting shawarma as it was done back home - with just a few simple ingredients in the right places. His dream and hard work eventually blossomed into Shawarmaji, a middle eastern restaurant in Oakland.