At some point over the last decade, the Canadian province of Alberta acquired a costume consisting of a silver jumpsuit and a lifelike depiction of a giant pita bread stuffed with meat.
Now, the provincial government has decided to part with the outfit in an online auction that has renewed a longstanding feud over the proper recipe for the beloved late-night snack.
On 14 July, the province listed a “donair costume” for sale on its surplus assets website, alongside unwanted computer printers, hospital beds and a confiscated radar detector. The post noted the outfit appeared to be in “excellent” – if dusty – condition, with the caveat that the “overall operational condition” was unknown.
Donairs are a particularly Canadian riff on the gyros or döner kebab, consisting of thinly sliced spiced beef on pita, topped with tomatoes and onions. Developed in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the 1970s by Greek immigrants, the Canadian variation comes drenched in a sweet sauce made from condensed milk.
In 2015, the dish was named the official food of Halifax, shortly after a city councillor dismissed the gyros and döner kebab as “bland and tasteless”.
None of which explains why a provincial government on the other side of the country owns a donair costume or why it has put it up for sale.
The listing was first spotted by reporter Catherine Griwkowsky, who covers the province’s politics for AB Today. Less than a day after she tweeted about the costume, the bids had surged to C$1,000, far above the initial listing price of C$50. By July 20, bidding had reached more than C$6,000 as donair shops raced to outbid rivals and claim the costume for themselves.
Some have called for the costume to be sent to Nova Scotia, widely seen as the home of the dish. But the costume’s detailing, which shows lettuce tucked in among the tomatoes and meat and onion, has also renewed a fierce debate over the correct recipe.
In an interview with the CBC in 2015, the owner of a chain of donair shops in Halifax described the addition of lettuce as “sacrilegious”. But in Alberta – the highest per capita consumer of donairs in Canada (and probably the world) – the leafy vegetable has become an essential part of the recipe.
According to the auction site, the costume measures 56in in length and comes with a silver body suit for an “authentic tinfoil look” – a nod to purists who maintain that a donair must be wrapped in foil when served.
Internet sleuths tracked the costume to Christine Papalexis, a Los Angeles-based costume and puppet designer. Papalexis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter users also suggested the costume could have been commissioned for a 2015 distracted driving commercial called Don’t Drive and Donair but was never used. Others speculated the costume was intended for an unaired edition of a commercial for antacid tablets.
“This costume was a prop for an advertising campaign and is no longer required by the department,” the province wrote in response to a question on the auction site about the origins of the donair suit.
Because of the outfit’s unique nature, the province says it has extended the auction until 14 August.
