For the first time, Israel is sending an official team to the Open Fire Meat Up in Hondo, Texas, the event many in the barbecue world call the world championship of open-fire cooking. The main competition is on October 24, 2026. CALIFORNO is proud to support the team, and we designed and built the machine for their signature dish: the Torre, our wood and charcoal shawarma tower.
A giant shawarma, cooked only over fire
The Israeli team will present a giant shawarma skewer of about 200 kg (440 lb) of kosher Wagyu beef, cooked entirely over charcoal and open fire. It's a tribute to one of the dishes most closely tied to Israeli and Mediterranean food, and it needed a machine that didn't exist yet.
So we built one. The CALIFORNO Torre is a mobile shawarma machine with no gas and no electric heat. Five pull-out fire shelves on each side are loaded with charcoal or wood logs to build a tall wall of fire, and the skewer turns in the center, in front of the flames. The cook controls the heat shelf by shelf, from the top of the skewer to the bottom. The Torre holds a skewer up to 24" in diameter and 36" tall, about 500 lb of meat.
The team
The delegation is led by chef, meat expert and content creator Ruben Maislos, who was personally invited by Open Fire Meat Up founder Al Frugoni. The team includes pitmaster Vlad Shvorin, MasterChef winner Charlie Fadida, Yehuda Amar, chef at Shawarma Ganem Abu Gamos, and meat expert and grilling instructor Dror Mamalia. Beyond the competition, the team will also run an official Israeli cooking workshop for the chefs, pitmasters and creators attending from around the world.
About the Open Fire Meat Up
The event runs over three days. October 22–23 bring panels, workshops, demonstrations and product launches for the meat and barbecue industry. On October 24 the main event opens to the public, and thousands of visitors taste the teams' food and vote for the People's Choice award alongside the professional judges. The organizers expect about 20 countries, 40 teams and 700 chefs, pitmasters and industry professionals.
Built in Florida, for the world stage
The team is supported by Sharfshtein Food Machinery, Nine Consumer Products (Weber in Israel), Maimon Spices, Holy Wagyu Meats and CALIFORNO. For us, this project is what we love most: a custom live-fire machine, designed and welded in our shop in Hallandale Beach, Florida, for cooks who push what fire can do.
The Torre is now available in several sizes, from catering models to the full competition size. If you run a restaurant, food truck or event business and want a shawarma, gyro or al pastor machine that cooks with real fire, call us. See more of our custom live-fire work in our Argentine parrilla guide.
Follow the team's trip to Texas on social media, and check back here for photos and video from the competition.
Israel's First Team at the Open Fire Meat Up 2026 Cooks on the CALIFORNO Torre
For the first time, Israel is sending an official team to the Open Fire Meat Up in Hondo, Texas, the event many in the barbecue world call the world championship of open-fire cooking. The main competition is on October 24, 2026. CALIFORNO is proud to support the team, and we designed and built the machine for their signature dish: the Torre, our wood and charcoal shawarma tower.
A giant shawarma, cooked only over fire
The Israeli team will present a giant shawarma skewer of about 200 kg (440 lb) of kosher Wagyu beef, cooked entirely over charcoal and open fire. It's a tribute to one of the dishes most closely tied to Israeli and Mediterranean food, and it needed a machine that didn't exist yet.
So we built one. The CALIFORNO Torre is a mobile shawarma machine with no gas and no electric heat. Five pull-out fire shelves on each side are loaded with charcoal or wood logs to build a tall wall of fire, and the skewer turns in the center, in front of the flames. The cook controls the heat shelf by shelf, from the top of the skewer to the bottom. The Torre holds a skewer up to 24" in diameter and 36" tall, about 500 lb of meat.
The team
The delegation is led by chef, meat expert and content creator Ruben Maislos, who was personally invited by Open Fire Meat Up founder Al Frugoni. The team includes pitmaster Vlad Shvorin, MasterChef winner Charlie Fadida, Yehuda Amar, chef at Shawarma Ganem Abu Gamos, and meat expert and grilling instructor Dror Mamalia. Beyond the competition, the team will also run an official Israeli cooking workshop for the chefs, pitmasters and creators attending from around the world.
About the Open Fire Meat Up
The event runs over three days. October 22–23 bring panels, workshops, demonstrations and product launches for the meat and barbecue industry. On October 24 the main event opens to the public, and thousands of visitors taste the teams' food and vote for the People's Choice award alongside the professional judges. The organizers expect about 20 countries, 40 teams and 700 chefs, pitmasters and industry professionals.
Built in Florida, for the world stage
The team is supported by Sharfshtein Food Machinery, Nine Consumer Products (Weber in Israel), Maimon Spices, Holy Wagyu Meats and CALIFORNO. For us, this project is what we love most: a custom live-fire machine, designed and welded in our shop in Hallandale Beach, Florida, for cooks who push what fire can do.
The Torre is now available in several sizes, from catering models to the full competition size. If you run a restaurant, food truck or event business and want a shawarma, gyro or al pastor machine that cooks with real fire, call us. See more of our custom live-fire work in our Argentine parrilla guide.
Follow the team's trip to Texas on social media, and check back here for photos and video from the competition.