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Laplap

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Laplap
Laplap
Place of originVanuatu
Main ingredientsbreadfruit, taro, yam, coconut cream, pork, beef, chicken or flying fox

Laplap (sometimes wrongly spelled lap lap) is the national dish of Vanuatu.[1] Laplap is prepared by grating breadfruit, bananas, taro or yam roots into a vegetable paste.[2] The paste is then wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in an underground stone oven, with fresh coconut cream. Meats like pork, beef, chicken or flying fox can be added.[3]

Laplap sosor, a variant of the national dish from Malakula island.

Etymology

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The word laplap comes from Bislama, the national language of Vanuatu. It finds its origin in some of the Oceanic languages of the country: e.g. Dorig lablab [laᵐblaᵐb], Nume labalam [laᵐbalam], both reflecting a Proto-Torres-Banks form *laᵐbalaᵐba.

The majority of indigenous languages of Vanuatu, however, name the dish using other roots. For example, Mota loko [loko] and Raga loḡo [loˈᵑɡo] reflect a Proto-North-Central Vanuatu etymon *loᵑgo;[4] Hiw tegōv [təˈɣoβ], Lemerig 'ëgëv [ʔœˈɣœβ] and Mwotlap na-tgop [natˈɣɔp] reflect Proto-Torres-Banks *taɣoβe;,[5] while Tamambo has wewe [weˈwe].

References

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  1. ^ "The secrets of Vanuatu's national dish, the Lap Lap". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2009-03-29. Archived from the original on 2022-12-26.
  2. ^ "Anyone for some Lap-Lap ? | Vanuatuan Cuisine". Vanuatu Traveller | vanuatutraveller.com. 2016-04-13. Retrieved 2018-03-07.
  3. ^ Vanuatu: Laplap up some tropical flavour (+photos)
  4. ^ Clark, Ross (2009). Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-603 (inactive 2024-05-26). ISSN 1448-8310.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of May 2024 (link)
  5. ^ See entry t‹o›gop in A. François’ Mwotlap online dictionary.