Laplap

Vanuatu National Dish

Not to be confused with Lap-lap.

Laplap

Laplap

Place of origin| Vanuatu
Main ingredients| breadfruit, taro, yam, coconut cream, pork, beef, chicken or flying fox

Laplap (sometimes incorrectly 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, before cooking

## Etymology

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The word laplap (spelled in one word) comes from Bislama, the national language of Vanuatu.[4] 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 [loᵑɡo] reflect a Proto-North-Central Vanuatu etymon *loᵑgo;[5] Hiw tegōv [təɣoβ], Lemerig ’ëgëv [ʔœɣœβ] and Mwotlap na-tgop [natɣɔp] reflect Proto-Torres-Banks *taɣoβe;[6] Araki has ureeje [uɾeet͡ʃe],[7] Tamambo has wewe, etc.

## Main recipes

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## 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. ^ See entry laplap, p.147 of: Crowley, Terry. 2003. A new Bislama dictionary, 2d ed. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific.
5. ^ Clark, Ross (2009). Leo Tuai: A comparative lexical study of North and Central Vanuatu languages. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics. doi:10.15144/PL-603 (inactive 12 July 2025). hdl:1885/146751. ISBN 978-0-85883-600-6. ISSN 1448-8310.`{{cite book}}`: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
6. ^ See entry t‹o›gop in A. François’ Mwotlap online dictionary.
7. ^ See entry ureeje in A. François’ Araki online dictionary.

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