Lahmacun

Lahmacun,^[a] lahmajun or lahmajo^[b] is a Middle Eastern flatbread topped with minced meat (most commonly beef or lamb), minced vegetables, and herbs such as onions, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, and parsley, flavored with spices such as chili pepper and paprika, then baked.^[3] Lahmacun is often wrapped around vegetables, including pickles, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, parsley, and roasted eggplant.^[4][5][6][7]

Lahmacun

Lahmacun with salad
Alternative names	Lahmajun, lahmajoun, lahm b'ajin, lahmajo, lahmajin, lahamagine, lahmatzoun
Course	Main
Region or state	Levant[1]
Serving temperature	Warm
Main ingredients	Minced meat, vegetables and herbs
Media: Lahmacun

Originating in the Levant region of West Asia,^[1] where it is traditionally known by its Arabic name lahm bi ʿajīn ("meat with dough").^[8] Lahm bi ajeen or lahmacun is a popular dish in Lebanon and Syria.^[9][10]

Variants of lahmacun are also common in Armenia and Turkey.,^[11][2] where the dish became popular in local cuisines.^[11] In English, it is sometimes referred to as "Lebanese pizza".,^[12] "Armenian pizza",^[13] or "Turkish pizza",^[14] because of its round shape and superficial similarity to pizza, though it traditionally contains neither cheese nor tomato sauce and is made with a thinner crust^[11][15]

Etymology and terminology

The name entered English from Turkish lahmacun, pronounced lahmajun, and from Armenian Լահմաջո (lahmajo), both derived from Arabic لحم [بـ]عجين (laḥm [bi-]ʿajīn), meaning "dough [with] meat".^[16][17][9]

History

Flatbreads in the Middle East have been cooked in tandoors and on metal frying pans such as the tava for thousands of years.^[17] They have been used to wrap meat and other foods for convenience and portability. However, until the wider adoption in medieval times of the large stone ovens, flatbreads stuffed or topped with meat and other foods were not baked together, cooking the bread and the topping at the same time.^[17][9]

A 13th-century Syrian cookbook compiled in Aleppo, Kitāb al-Wusla ilā al-Ḥabīb (Scents and Flavors), contains a recipe describing minced meat spread on thin dough and baked in a brick oven (furn).^[18] It instructs to “cut up meat small, then spread it on a round piece of dough and bake it in the oven.” This recipe is identified by scholars as the earliest textual reference to laḥm bi ʿajīn (“meat with dough”),^{[19][20][21][22]}

A variety of such dishes exist such as sfiha and manakish, became popular in Levant , such as Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Syria. A thin flatbread, topped with spiced ground meat, became known as lahm b'ajin (meat with dough), shortened to lahmajin and similar names.^[17][9]

According to Ayfer Bartu, lahmacun was not known in Istanbul until the mid-20th century.^[23] Bartu says that before the dish became widespread in Turkey after the 1950s, it was found in Arab countries and the southern regions of Turkey, around Urfa and Gaziantep.^[1]

By region

In Assyrian tradition, lahmacun is served to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, alongside Turkish coffee and other dishes.^[24]

In The Netherlands lahmacun is often sold as a street food or snack, often under the name Turkish pizza. The lahmacun is rolled up and filled with salad, sambal and garlic sauce, often with added döner meat and/or cheese.^[25]

Variations

• Antep, includes garlic^[26]
• Urfa, includes onion^[26]
• Aleppo (Turkish: Halep işi lahmacun), includes garlic, onion, and pomegranate molasses^[27]

Controversy

Due to the hostile nature of the relations between Armenia and Turkey, the opening of Armenian restaurants serving the food in Russia was met by some protests.^[2][28] In March 2020, Kim Kardashian, an American socialite and media personality of Armenian heritage, posted a video on her Instagram saying "Who knows about lahmacun? This is our Armenian pizza. My dad would always put string cheese on it and then put it in the oven and get it really crispy." This sparked outrage among Turkish social media users, who lashed out at her for describing lahmacun as Armenian pizza.^[29]

See also

• Food portal

• Sfiha
• Pizza marinara
• Al-Maltout

Notes

1. /ˌlɑːməˈdʒuːn/ LAH-mə-JOON, Turkish: [lahmaːˈdʒun] ^ⓘ; Arabic: لحم بعجين, romanized: laḥm bi-ʿajīn, lit. 'meat with dough'.
2. Armenian: լահմաջո.^[2]