Canadian donair sandwich costume sells for $16,000

The costume was initially bought for an anti-drug awareness campaign that in the end was never produced. It now belongs to a popular donair chain in Alberta.

A dusty costume of a tinfoil wrapped donair sandwich has sold in Canada for C$16,025 ($11,900; £9,400).

The strangeness of the listing - and the fact it depicts a beloved Canadian street food - captured hearts when it was posted online on an Alberta government surplus auction site.

That sparked a bidding war for the never-used outfit between rival donair restaurants across the country.

The 4ft 8in (142cm) suit was eventually won by an Alberta donair chain.

For those unfamiliar with the food, a donair is derived from the Greek gyro and Turkish doner kebab, said Canadian food writer Lindsay Wickstrom, who has written a book on the snack.

Greek immigrant Peter Gamoulakos created the sandwich in the mid-1970s in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The restaurateur had ambitions of bringing the gyro to Atlantic Canada, but discovered that the savoury of flavours of garlic, yogurt and lamb didn't align with local tastes at the time.

So he put a slightly sweeter spin on the sandwich.

The man-sized donair suit features lettuce - a controversial topping in the sandwich's hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia

A donair has spiced ground beef shaved into a grilled Lebanese pita and covered in a sauce of evaporated or condensed milk, and vinegar and sugar. There is often a hint of garlic, and tomato or onion as a topping.

"The late night food that you eat after some drinks usually," Ms Wickstrom told the BBC.

It's since been declared Halifax's official food, reaching "iconic and unique" status.

The dish eventually made its way west to Alberta, where it was already popular with Atlantic Canadians who had settled there to work in the oil industry.

There, it is often sold with a controversial addition: lettuce.

"People in Halifax are purists about the donair," Ms Wickstrom said. "You will be publicly shamed, even driven out of the city for even putting lettuce on it."

Under a wave of interest earlier the summer, Alberta revealed the origins of the donair costume, which comes with a "silver-coloured body suit for that authentic tinfoil look!".

The one-of-a-kind outfit was bought in 2015 for an anti-drug awareness campaign that in the end was never produced. In July, it ended up listed under the "oddities" section of the auction site. Condition: dusty but excellent.

But the costume features lettuce, fuelling a long-standing regional dispute between Halifax and Edmonton on what constitutes a true, authentic donair.

Adil Asim, the owner of the Alberta-based restaurant chain Prime Time Donair & Poutine, told the BBC on Tuesday that he entered the bidding competition to save the lettuce, after Halifax restaurants vying for the costume promised to remove it.

"I am born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and I had my first donair at the age of two" most of which had the leafy green on them, the 42-year-old said.

For Canadian YouTuber Steve Wallis, a life-time of eating donairs inspired him to join the bidding war for the man-sized outfit.

The 41-year-old said he hoped to use it to raise money for food banks, a cause his late wife was passionate about.

"Who wouldn't want a profile picture of them with this donair? It's just attracted so much attention," he said.

Mr Wallis was eventually outbid in the final hours of the auction by Mr Asim.

But the two have since connected to collaborate on a charity event that will feature the costume.

"If we can use this suit to do some good (and have some fun while doing it), then we think everyone can be a winner here," Mr Asim told Mr Wallis in a message shared on social media.