Falafel in health-food stores. While often used to make veggie burgers, it has become more widely used as a source of protein. In the United States, falafel's versatility has allowed for the reformulating of recipes for meatloaf, sloppy joes and spaghetti and meatballs into vegetarian dishes. Falafel is made from fava beans or chickpeas. The use of chickpeas is predominant in most Middle Eastern countries, such as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. This version is the most popular in the West. In Egypt, fava beans, chickpeas, or often a combination of the two may be used. When chickpeas are used,
Israeli cuisine served in a pita, with pickles, tahina, hummus, cut vegetable salad and often, "harif", a hot sauce, the type used depending on the origin of the falafel maker. Variations include green falafel, which include parsley and coriander, red falafel made with "filfel chuma", yellow falafel made with turmeric, and falafel coated with sesame seeds. "Shawarma", (from "çevirme", meaning "rotating" in Turkish) is usually made in Israel with turkey, with lamb fat added. The shawarma meat is sliced and marinated and then roasted on a huge rotating skewer. The cooked meat is shaved off and stuffed into a pita, plainly with