The term leben, variously laban, liben, lben () in the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, refers to a food or beverage of fermented milk. Generally, there are two main products known as ''leben'': the

yogurt Yogurt (; , from , ; also spelled yoghurt, yogourt or yoghourt) is a food produced by bacterial Fermentation (food), fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to ...

variant for the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

region and the

buttermilk Buttermilk is a fermented dairy drink. Traditionally, it was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cultured cream. As most modern butter in Western countries is not made with cultured cream but uncultured sweet cream, most mode ...

variant for parts of

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

and North Africa (Maghreb). Leben can be served at breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Buttermilk variant

Leben as a drink is traditionally prepared by letting milk ferment for around 24 hours, then churning and removing the butter. The remaining

can keep for several days at room temperature. In modern times, it is produced industrially.

Yogurt variant

Leben in parts of the

is traditionally prepared by boiling

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

, usually

whole milk The fat content of milk is the proportion of milk, by weight, made up by butterfat. The fat content, particularly of cow's milk, is modified to make a variety of products. The fat content of milk is usually stated on the container, and the color ...

, then adding yogurt (or previously made, leftover/store-bought leben), and then cooled overnight.

In Israel

In the early 20th century, small dairies run by

Ashkenazi Jews Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language ...

in what was then

Ottoman Palestine The region of Palestine (region), Palestine is part of the wider region of the Levant, which represents the land bridge between Africa and Eurasia.Steiner & Killebrew, p9: "The general limits ..., as defined here, begin at the Plain of ' ...

began producing the yogurt variant in quantity. It was called ''leben'', from the Arabic, meaning "white", cognate to the Hebrew "לָבָן" (''lavan''). Leben was of extremely high importance to Jews during the British Mandate years, and was considered a dietary staple. During the ''tzena'' (austerity) period that followed the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, also known as the First Arab–Israeli War, followed the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war in Mandatory Palestine as the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. The civil war becam ...

, leben qualified for the state rationing system and was issued as a basic staple dairy product. Due to its importance during ''tzena'', leben became indelibly ingrained in Israeli culture. In the 1970s, strawberry and chocolate flavours of leben appeared on store shelves, but these have largely been supplanted by fruit-flavoured yogurts.

References

External links

* {{Cuisine of Lebanon Arab cuisine Israeli cuisine Bahraini cuisine Emirati cuisine Jordanian cuisine Kuwaiti cuisine Lebanese cuisine Levantine cuisine Palestinian cuisine Omani cuisine Saudi Arabian cuisine Syrian cuisine Fermented dairy products Non-alcoholic drinks Yogurt-based drinks Milk-based drinks

Buttermilk variant

Yogurt variant

In Israel

See also

References

External links