[1] Seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on the rotisserie, next to a vertical cooking element.

The vertical rotisserie was invented in the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, and dishes such as the Arab shawarma, Greek gyros, Canadian donair, and Mexican al pastor are derived from this.

[2][3][4] The modern sandwich variant of doner kebab originated and was popularized in 1970s West Berlin by Turkish immigrants.

[9] The sandwich generally contains salad or vegetables, which may include tomato; lettuce; cabbage; onion with sumac; fresh or pickled cucumber or chili; and various types of sauces.

[10][11] In the Ottoman Empire, at least as far back as the 17th century, stacks of seasoned sliced meat were cooked on a horizontal rotisserie, similar to the cağ kebab.

[14] According to Yavuz İskenderoğlu, his grandfather İskender Efendi as a child in 1850s Bursa had the idea of roasting the lamb at his father's restaurant vertically rather than horizontally; it was a success, and some years later became known as doner kebap.

His restaurant, first opened in 1945, was soon discovered by journalists and began serving doner and other kebab dishes to kings, prime ministers, film stars and celebrities.

[18] The doner kebab and its derivatives served in a sandwich form as "fast food" came to worldwide prominence in the mid- to late 20th century.

[26] The dish developed there from its original form into a distinctive style of sandwich with abundant salad, vegetables, and sauces, sold in large portions at affordable prices.

The toppings include shredded lettuce or cabbage, sliced tomato, and usually a choice of sauces such as Thousand Island, spicy, and garlic.

[citation needed] In Finland, doner kebabs gained popularity after the 90s, when Turkish and other Middle-Eastern immigrants started to arrive in the country in considerable numbers, opening restaurants and importing their traditional dishes.

[46] Turkish immigrants also brought doner kebab to France, where it became especially popular with the country's large North African population, in the 1980s.

[47] In Germany, the earliest claim to the introduction of Turkish doner kebab dates to 1969, when Bursa native Nevzat Salim and his father started to sell Iskender Kebap in Reutlingen.

[50] However, the Association of Turkish Döner Producers in Europe (ATDID) connects the wide popularization of the dish to the stand of Turkish guest worker Kadir Nurman at West Berlin's Zoo Station in 1972, which helped establish the doner kebab sandwich as a fast food option.

[57] Kapsalon is a Dutch food item consisting of French fries topped with doner or shawarma meat, garlic sauce, and a layer of gouda cheese, baked or broiled until melted, and then subsequently covered with a layer of dressed salad greens and more sauce.

[58] Introduced by Turkish immigrants, the doner kebab with salad and sauce is a very popular dish in the United Kingdom, especially after a night out.

It did not catch on with the public, so in 1972[24] he modified the customary pork and lamb recipe by using spiced ground beef, Lebanese flatbread, and inventing the distinctive sweet donair sauce made with condensed milk, vinegar, sugar, and garlic.

[70][71][72] In recent years a number of restaurants and food trucks specializing in doner kebab have opened in various parts of the country; a substantial percentage are owned by German immigrants.

It consists of halal-certified doner kebab meat, chips (french fries), and sauces such as chili, garlic and barbecue.

[79] Health concerns regarding doner kebab, including the hygiene involved in overnight storage and re-heating of partially cooked meat, its quality, as well as high salt, fat, and calorie levels, have been reported in the media.

[83][84] Food safety regulations in most developed countries address the dangers of bacteria in undercooked meat of all kinds sold to the public.

Following several outbreaks of E. coli food poisoning, the Canadian government in 2008 introduced a number of recommendations, including that the meat should be cooked a second time after being sliced from the rotisserie.