Lahpet

Not to be confused with larb pet, a duck meat salad.
Lahpet
Lahpet thoke, Burmese tea leaf salad or pickled tea salad is a favourite national dish.
Place of originBurma
Associated cuisineBurmese cuisine
Main ingredients
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Lahpet, also spelled laphet, laphat, lephet, leppet, or letpet in English (Burmese: လက်ဖက်; MLCTS: lak hpak, pronounced [ləpʰɛʔ]), is Burmese for fermented or pickled tea. Myanmar is one of the few countries where tea is consumed both as a drink and as an eaten delicacy, in the form of pickled tea, which is unique to this region. Laphet is regarded as a national delicacy that plays a significant role in Burmese society, and remains a traditional Burmese gesture of hospitality and is served to guests visiting a home.[1][2]

Its place in the cuisine of Myanmar is reflected by the following popular expression: "Of all the fruit, the mango's the best; of all the meat, pork's the best; and of all the leaves, lahpet's the best". In the West, laphet is most commonly encountered in "tea leaf salad" (လက်ဖက်သုပ်).[3][4]

Fermented or pickled tea is featured in the cuisines of many ethnicities who live near the geographical origin of tea, such as the cuisines of the Bulang,[5] and in Tai cuisine (where it is known as miang in dishes such as miang kham).

  1. ^ Haber, Daniel (March 31, 2002). "Lephet - Green Tea Salad". Swe Sone magazine. Archived from the original on July 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Foodspotting (18 March 2014), The Foodspotting Field Guide, Chronicle Books LLC, p. 71, ISBN 978-1-4521-3008-8
  4. ^ "Burmese Tea Leaves That Feel Like Family", The New York Times, July 26, 2012
  5. ^ Eating tea with the Bulang people