The Ancient Art of Spit-Roasted Meat: From Antiquity to Taqueria Vista Hermosa

Acclaimed chef Raul Morales, owner of Taqueria Vista Hermosa in Los Angeles, experienced a taste of fame at Universal Studios Hollywood when fans recognized him as ‘Chef Al Pastor.’ Born in Mexico City, Morales’ moniker is a testament to decades of dedication to his family’s traditional al pastor taco recipe.

The tantalizing dish features expertly seasoned pork, shaved from a rotating vertical spit and served in fresh tortillas. Morales proudly declares his recipe as unique and old, a legacy passed down through generations.

Spit-roasted meats like al pastor, shawarma, and döner have roots that date back centuries, yet their popularity today reflects the contemporary nature of these ancient culinary traditions. The act of threading meat onto a spinning spit is an age-old technique, with traces of it found in some of humanity’s earliest writings.

Feasts featuring spit-roasted meats are documented in Homeric epics such as The Iliad and The Odyssey, while archaeological evidence points to the practice being common among male warriors in the Aegean region as early as the 10th century BCE. The association between roasting meat and masculinity is thought to stem from its link to hunting and warfare.

When it comes to cooking with a spit, it’s not just about hanging a chunk of meat over the fire. Food historian Ken Albala explains that the meat is cooked beside the heat source, resulting in richer flavors. Early roasts likely consisted of whole animals or large animal parts, but in the Ottoman Empire, cooks developed a more specialized technique involving layering thin slices of raw meat onto a spit, which could then be cooked as it spun.

Miniature paintings from a 1620 manuscript commissioned by Ottoman statesman Hafız Ahmed Paşa depict this innovative method being used for elegant outdoor meals, suggesting that the dish may have been a luxury item associated with royalty. The paintings do not specify the name of the spit-roasted meat, but food historian Mary Işın has discovered 15th-century Ottoman texts referring to rotated, spit-roasted meats as ‘çevirme kebabı,’ or “turned kebabs.”

Over time, the dish spread across the Ottoman Empire, which at its height encompassed central Europe, north Africa, and the Arabian Peninsula. The term ‘çevirme’ eventually evolved into shawarma in both Arabic and English, a similar dish still enjoyed worldwide. In Turkey, it was replaced by another term: döner.

By the early 1800s, döner had become a popular dish among tourists visiting Istanbul’s kebab houses. As migrants crossed continents and oceans, they took the delicious meal with them, incorporating different meats into the process, serving it various ways, and giving it new names. In Spanish, the stack is called a trompo, resembling a child’s spinning top.

Immigrants from the Ottoman Empire brought shawarma to Mexico in the late 19th century. The second generation of these Mexican Lebanese immigrants introduced al pastor, which emerged as corn tortillas filled with pork marinated in local ingredients like pineapple, achiote, and chiles. What we now know as tacos al pastor originated in the 1960s.

The dish then made its way to Greece in the early 20th century, where it was named gyro after the Greek verb ‘to turn.’ However, it was under the Turkish name – döner – that the dish spread across Europe. A wave of Turkish guest workers arriving in Germany post-World War II brought döner with them, leading to its widespread popularity in the country today.

In 2022, the Turkish government applied to the European Parliament for protected status for döner, similar to that enjoyed by Italian mozzarella and Spanish jamón serrano. Yet even in Turkey, döner continues to evolve, with Chef Vedat Başaran of Istanbul’s Terşane restaurant noting that it has transitioned from a street food to a restaurant food over the years.

Despite its various transformations, one thing remains constant – people’s enduring love for al pastor tacos. From Los Angeles to distant lands like Argentina, Australia, and London, Morales’ family specialty continues to captivate taste buds around the world. In Levi, Finland, Lost Tacos taqueria serves al pastor to hungry customers living well above the Arctic Circle, testament to the dish’s universal appeal.

For Raul Morales, the success of his family’s al pastor taco recipe is no surprise. “People really love these al pastor tacos,” he says. A living heritage that transcends international borders, al pastor tacos continue to delight customers across the globe.