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Lahmacun, lahmajun or lahmajo is a Middle Eastern flatbread topped with minced meat (most commonly beef or lamb), minced vegetables, and herbs including 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 cucumber, tomatoes, Capsicum, onions, lettuce, parsley, and roasted eggplant.
Originating in the Levant region of West Asia, lahm bi ajeen or lahmacun is a popular dish in Lebanon and Syria. In the Levant it is part of a series of foods called, collectively, manakish—flatbreads with toppings. It is also sometimes referred to as " Lebanese pizza". It is also very popular in Armenia and Turkey. It is sometimes described as " Armenian pizza", or " Turkish pizza", or similar names due to its shape and superficial similarity. However, unlike pizza, lahmacun is not usually prepared with Tomato sauce or cheese and the crust is thinner. In Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine it is also known as "sfiha" (, ).
It is referred to as Armenian Sfiha () in some areas in the Arab world, such as in Palestine, where it is distinguished from regular Palestinian-style sfiha which has a thicker dough layer.
13th-Century Aleppo author Ibn al-Adim wrote a recipe calling for cutting meat and spreading it on a thin disc of dough before putting it in a brick oven called a , a possible ancestor to lahm bi ajeen.
A variety of such dishes, such as sfiha and manakish, became popular in countries formerly parts of the Ottoman Empire, especially Turkey, Armenia, Lebanon 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.
According to Ayfer Bartu, lahmacun was not known in Istanbul until the mid-20th century. 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.
In Assyrian people tradition, lahmacun is served to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, alongside Turkish coffee and other dishes.
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 Doner kebab and/or cheese.
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