DISH: Shawarma pita

RESTAURANT: Me Va Me Express

LOCATION: 330 Steeles Ave. W., one of two Thornhill locations

PRICE: $6.95

Ryan Berry and his wife Rhea Sengupta are incapable of driving past Me Va Me Express for one of the restaurant’s “catastrophically large” shawarma pitas.

In fact, the Markham couple sometimes makes excuses to drive to Thornhill for their monthly shawarma fix.

“In this sandwich, the twin forces of gluttony and deliciousness come together in a perfect unison, only tempered by the guilt/anxiety/self-loathing/gym trips that follow,” Ryan wrote in his request to The Dish.

“We solace ourselves by saying such things as, ‘This must be better for us than McDonald’s,’ or ‘shawarma is made from chicken, so it must be lean,’ or ‘a sandwich the size of my forearm can’t be so bad.’

“How badly are we deceiving ourselves? We would love to know the dietary consequences of these awesome sandwiches.”

While it seems Ryan could be exaggerating the size of the shawarma, a trip to the bright, bustling restaurant proved his analogy correct. The shawarma on a baguette is truly the size of a grown man’s forearm. The pita version, when filled with the many proffered garnishes, more closely resembles the size of a five-year-old boy’s head.

To help Ryan and Rhea decide the nutritional worthiness of their favourite meal, we sent a shawarma pita — stuffed to its gills with garnishes — to the lab. The toppings included lettuce, tomato, pickle slices, red cabbage, onion, sauerkraut, hot pickles, hot sauce, red eggplant, baba ghanoush and tahini.

Seems excessive, right? But two of the three people ahead of me in line cheerily asked for “the works.” So I did, too.

Unfortunately for Ryan and Rhea, they were right to be worried about the excessiveness of the pita.

This sandwich clocked in with 1,215 calories, 73 grams of fat and 2,512 mg of sodium.

The couple shrieked, then laughed when they heard the results.

“Oh my God,” Rhea said. “The 73 grams of fat is astounding.”

Registered dietitian Shannon Crocker said all of the nutrition numbers for this sandwich are shocking.

“The calories are close to three times what you should be having in a sandwich and it contains a day’s worth of fat,” she said, noting the sodium content is 200 mg higher than the maximum recommended daily allotment.

In fact, she said, the shawarma pita makes a double Big Mac look light. Even with its four beef patties, the over-the-top burger has 700 calories, 40 grams of fat and 1,520 mg sodium.

The numbers also put the hubbub over KFC’s infamous double down into perspective. Remember that sandwich? It was made of cheese, bacon and special sauce sandwiched between two pieces of deep-fried chicken breast.

Crocker says eating two of those (a pair has 1,080 calories and 60 grams of fat) would do less damage, calorie- and fat-wise, than the pita.

“Granted, you would get more sodium — 3,140 mg! — and most definitely fewer vitamins and minerals because it is void of veggies.”

But these two comparisons show that seemingly healthy sounding meals can also be nutrition landmines. With the lean chicken, hearty pita and fresh toppings, it’s easy to see how Ryan and Rhea could think a shawarma sandwich from Me Va Me would be a healthier choice than McDonalds.

(For another comparison, Crocker calculated that a foot-long roast chicken sub from Subway on a white bun with cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, pickles, olives, jalapeno peppers, banana peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce and onions has 910 calories, 41 grams of fat and 1,920 mg of sodium. A lot for a massive sandwich, but still not as much as this pita.)

Crocker suggested the couple redeem their shawarma visits by splitting the pita and loading up on the raw, fresh vegetable garnishes, only adding their favourite sauce or pickled topping. It’s hard to say, but she guesses much of the fat is hiding in the tahini, baba ghanoush and maybe even the shawarma meat itself.

“Another option would be to choose the shawarma lunch box with baked potatoes and vegetables,” she said. “You’ll get the flavours you like and it’s much easier to take half home for another meal. The bonus here is you could get two meals for the price of one.”

Now that Ryan and Rhea know the dietary consequences of the shawarma pita, the couple admits that while their curiosity was satisfied, their hankering for Me Va Me has not been dampened.

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“We’ll still eat there,” Ryan said. “We’ll tell ourselves that we will split one. But then we’ll look at the menu and order what we normally do.”

Rhea agrees: “But I’ll probably top it with just the veggies and maybe one other thing.”

Then they both laugh, a little guiltily.

“Really,” said Ryan, “this won’t change our eating habits whatsoever.”

VERDICT: If you don’t want to skip this sandwich, the best bet is to split it.

Serving size: 584 grams

Calories: 1,215

Fat: 73 grams

Sodium: 2,512 mg

Protein: 64 grams

Carbohydrates: 76 grams

RECOMMENDED DAILY ALLOWANCE

Men/Women

Calories: 2,500/2,000

Fat: 60 to 105 grams/45 to 75 grams

Sodium: 1,500 to 2,300 mg

Carbohydrates: 281-325 grams