The Neapolitan delight the Italians call pizza has made its way around the world, but Italian bakers aren’t the only ones who have come up with the idea of covering a flat piece of dough with something delicious and baking it. Turkey, China, Mexico and Lebanon are just a few countries that have their own native variations on the theme of crust, sauce and toppings.
Turkey
The Turkish pide sounds like pita for a reason: The oval bread on which the delicacy is based is similar to the light, fluffy flatbread popular throughout the world. The difference is in the toppings: Pide comes with finely minced lamb and herbs, beef or cheese. Pide bakers roll the ovals of dough on the sides to form shapes like flattened boats to hold the toppings in place and make the food easier to eat. It’s a popular street food throughout Turkey, but diners can also find this under-appreciated dish anywhere with a large Turkish population.
Another Turkish dish, lahmacun, looks more like a traditional Italian pizza, but the round flatbread has its own distinctive taste. Lahmacun is thinner and crispier than pide, and it’s almost always topped with a mixture of lamb, tomatoes and parsley. Other spices include cumin, paprika and a pinch of cinnamon. Some people eat it by itself, but others prefer it with grilled vegetables or a squeeze of lemon juice.
Lebanon
South of Turkey, manakish takes over from lahmacun and pite from street vendors and bakeries. Sometimes called Lebanese pizza, manakish is as flat as the thinnest pizza and covered with a thin layer of thyme, sumac, oregano and sesame seeds called zaatar. Traditionally, women made the flatbreads with leftover dough as a breakfast dish, but as anyone who’s tasted manakish fresh from the oven can attest, they’re delicious at any hour of the day.
English: Manakeesh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mexico
Not all pizza-like foods start with the same kind of dough. In Mexico, corn is a staple, and it’s at the heart of the tostada, a Mexican dish that has more than a few traits in common with pizza. Like a pizza, a tostada starts with a crust, or in this case, a corn tortilla crisped in the oven or on a skillet. Favorite toppings change depending on where a tostada is prepared. Near Mexico’s northern border, they have a Tex-Mex flavor with refried beans, spiced ground beef, lettuce and tomatoes. Farther south and along the coasts, popular tostada toppers include shrimp and avocados. One favorite style in Oaxaca, the tlayuda, often includes cabbage, cheese, beef and crisp fried chapulines, or edible grasshoppers.
China
Toppings sometimes wind up in the middle of a pizza-like delicacy. The Chinese cong you bing starts with a flour dough, but instead of spreading toppings on the surface of the flatbread, Chinese cooks fold scallions, chilies and other flavorful delights into the airy dough and bake it crisp. They might appear on a menu as scallion pancakes, but unlike true pancakes made with a batter, these are closer to a pizza dough.
Pizza-like dishes coexist happily with the traditional Italian pie, but each has its own unique flavor. Sampling a scallion pancake or a pite can be a delicious change from the classic tomato and cheese pizza.
