IN THE UK, THEY SAY A GOOD NIGHT OUT ALWAYS ENDS WITH A KEBAB

It is true and it so reminds us our time in London when we were there working. We all love a good kebab. It is comfort food. It settles your stomach after a night of drinking. And before your know it, you would be waking up with that stinking after taste of that pungent garlic sauce left in your esophagus.

We remember going to work in London one early morning (Yes, the good old days when we were younger and though of our bodies were invincible lean mean machines). We walked past a kebab shop and they were just about setting up the shop for a brand new day for kebab worshipers. We witnessed what was a doner kebab in the making. The cook was slapping on a tub of sliced chicken. We felt sick seeing that. The meat was not pink. It was white, meaning there was probably 70% fat and 30% meat or whatever else. And indeed, there are reports saying a doner kebab contains a day of dietary calories. However, we are sure there are places selling lean meat kebabs too. Oh, writing this is making us queasy already. Here is the low-down of the doner kebab from bbc.co.uk

After a few refreshing ales, the populace of this fair isle like to repair to the nearest purveyor of Mediterranean cuisine and partake of a traditional favourite - the doner kebab.

The doner - whose inventor Mahmut Aygun has passed away at the ripe old age of 87 - has had much bad press of late, with reports of questionable meat and hygiene practices, and stratospheric salt and fat levels. Yet on the face of it, the doner could seem to be a healthier choice of takeaway, says Simon Langley-Evans, a professor of human nutrition at Nottingham University.

"As a meal it brings together lean meat, wholemeal pitta bread, and it brings in vegetables in the form of salad. But doner kebabs tend to come smothered in dressings, which bring in a lot of fat and salt." Last year food scientists for Hampshire county council found that doner kebabs were the fattiest takeaways. One contained 140g of fat, twice the maximum daily allowance for women, and the calorific equivalent to a wine glass of cooking oil. And 60% of the kebabs tested were high in trans fat, which raises cholesterol levels.

Then there is the question of portion size.

"These tend to be very large, and a doner kebab is usually consumed on top of a day's food as well as alcohol. It's additional food we just don't need."

In common with other takeaway foods, a large doner kebab can contain up to half of one's daily calorie requirements in a single serving, he says.

"People go for value for money. If they got a small portion, they would be disappointed and wouldn't go back to that kebab shop. So the takeaway industry is geared to deliver large portions."

Research by the UK's Food Standards Agency in 2006 found that 18.5% of doner takeaways posed a "significant" threat to public health, and 0.8% posed an "imminent" threat.

And Trading Standards officers have found doners with up to 22% fat, and up to 12g of salt - that's two heaped teaspoons, double the recommended daily intake.

"But the majority of [British] people who eat doner kebabs are somewhat inebriated and so are not best placed to make decisions about healthy eating," says Professor Langley-Evans.