Laplap

Laplap
Place of origin	Vanuatu
Main ingredients	breadfruit, 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

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