Lahmacun

Lahmacun, lahmajun, or lahmajo 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. Lahmacun is often wrapped around vegetables, including pickled vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, parsley, and roasted eggplant.

It originated in the Levant region of West Asia and the earliest known written evidence of its existence come from medieval Syria where it is traditionally known by its Arabic name lahm bi ʿajīn ("meat with dough"). Lahm bi ajeen, or lahmacun is a popular dish in Lebanon and Syria.

Variants of lahmacun are also common in Armenia and Turkey, where the dish became popular in local cuisines. In English, it is sometimes referred to as "Lebanese pizza", "Armenian pizza", or "Turkish pizza", 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.

Etymology and terminology

The name had 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". The names lahmajin and sfiha are often used interchangeably to refer to certain foods.

History

Medieval Syria

Flatbreads in the Middle East have been cooked in tandoors and on metal frying pans such as the tava for thousands of years. They have been used to wrap meat and other foods for convenience and portability.