Lahmacun

More to come on Turkish delights later but in the meantime let’s snack on a lahmacun. A true player in the game of pleasure, hailing from Anatolia the Turkish pizza has become synonymous with any ocakbasi from the soleil levant to Hackney. The date of its original conception is unknown, however, the history of putting toppings on dough suggests that this became a habit from around 900AD.

The word pizza has a common and obvious origin with pitta and it’s fair to suggest that the lahmacun is somewhat an uncle to its Italian variation. Making the connection with pitta explains why these things are so cheap:

Pitta translates from khubz’adi, the Arabic word for ‘ordinary bread’. Khubz Abbas, a primitive lahmacun from the Middle East, is a pitta with minced meat in the dough and thus could be termed an ordinary meal. Traditionally, people vowed to make a khubz Abbas if suffering was relieved before vast quantities of plain khubz are prepared and covered in sugar then distributed to the poor.

By taking this lineage, the lahmacun and subsequently the pizza historically represent a food-for-all attitude and might explain why the former, at least, remains to cost only £1.20.

Good examples at: Anatolia on Mare St.

                            Icco on Googe St.