Lokma

Lore & Background

The Arabic word luqma means morsel, mouthful, or bite. The dish was known as luqmat al-qādi in 13th-century Arabic cookery books, and the word luqma or loqma by itself has come to refer to it. The Turkish name lokma is derived from the Arabic, as is the Greek name loukoumádes. The recipe for luqmat al-qadi, yeast-leavened dough boiled in oil and doused in honey or sugar syrup with rosewater, dates back to at least the early medieval period and the 13th-century Abbasid Caliphate, where it is mentioned in several known cookery books of the time. It is also mentioned in the One Thousand and One Nights, in the story The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad. The explorer and scholar Ibn Battuta in the 14th century encountered the dish he knew as luqaymat al-qadi at a dinner in Multan (modern-day Pakistan) during his travels in medieval India, where his hosts called it al-hashimi.

Reader's Guide

Lokma's significance lies in its long history and widespread cultural presence across the Mediterranean and Middle East. The dish appears in medieval Arabic cookbooks, the One Thousand and One Nights, and the travels of Ibn Battuta, indicating its importance in Islamic culinary traditions. In Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, lugaimat remain little changed from 13th-century recipes, while in the Levant they are traditionally included in religious observances: Muslims at Ramadan, Jews at Hanukkah, and Christians at Epiphany. In Greece, loukoumádes are linked to ancient Greek enkrides, dough fried in oil and eaten with honey, mentioned by authors such as Archestratus, Aeschylus, and Aristophanes. They continued in the Byzantine era, particularly during Lent, as they met Orthodox fasting requirements. In Turkey, lokma are made in different types, including İzmir lokması (doughnut-shaped) and palace lokma (spherical). A notable tradition: forty days after someone dies, relatives cook large quantities of lokma for neighbours and passersby, who recite a prayer for the soul of the deceased after eating. Food historian Gil Marks notes that Arab and Ottoman empires contributed to the spread of lokma.

Did You Know?

• The dish was described as early as the 13th century by al-Baghdadi as luqmat al-qādi, meaning 'judge's morsels'.
• In the Levant, lokma are traditionally included in religious observances: Muslims at Ramadan, Jews at Hanukkah, and Christians at Epiphany.
• In Turkey, forty days after someone dies, close relatives cook large quantities of lokma for neighbours and passersby, who recite a prayer for the soul of the deceased.
• The Greek name loukoumádes is derived from the Arabic luqma, and the dish has been likened to ancient Greek enkrides mentioned by Aristophanes and others.

Etymology and the Linguistic Journey of a Name

The Arabic word luqma, meaning morsel, mouthful, or bite, gave the dessert its original identity. In 13th-century cookery manuscripts the dish appeared under the fuller title luqmat al-qādi, literally "judge's morsels," a label so memorable that the shortened form eventually stood in for the food itself. From this single Arabic root, the Turkish lokma and the Greek loukoumádes both trace their names, illustrating how one culinary concept crossed linguistic and cultural boundaries. The plural luqmāt and the diminutive luqaymat, meaning "small bites," show the word's natural flexibility in everyday speech. In the Persian Gulf the dish is called lugaimat, sometimes spiced with cardamom or saffron, while other parts of the Middle East know it as awameh, meaning "floater," or zalabya, a term that can also describe a similar spiral-shaped pastry. This layered web of Arabic, Turkish, and Greek names testifies to the dessert's deep and enduring footprint across the eastern Mediterranean and the broader Middle East.

Medieval Roots and Early Written Records

The earliest surviving written description of lokma comes from 13th-century Abbasid-era cookery texts, in which the scholar al-Baghdadi documented the recipe under the name luqmat al-qādi. The dish also entered the literary imagination of the period, appearing in the tale "The Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad" within the One Thousand and One Nights. A century later, the Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta encountered a version he recognized as luqaymat al-qadi at a dinner in Multan, in present-day Pakistan, where his hosts used a different local name, al-hashimi. Food historian Gil Marks attributes the wide geographic spread of the dish to the reach of both the Arab and Ottoman empires. The core preparation — yeast-leavened dough fried in oil and doused in honey or sugar syrup, sometimes scented with rosewater — remained strikingly consistent from those early medieval formulations onward, pointing to a long thread of culinary continuity stretching back at least eight centuries.

Ancient Greek and Byzantine Lineage

Long before the Arabic name became dominant, a closely related fried-dough treat was already familiar in Ancient Greece under the name enkrides. The word surfaces in the works of several classical authors, including Archestratus, Aeschylus, Steischorus, Epicharmus, Nikophon, Aristophanes, and Pherecrates. In The Deipnosophists, Athenaeus describes enkrides as "cakes boiled in oil" and "seasoned in honey." They were also likened to charisioi, or "joy cakes," reportedly given as prizes at ancient drinking games and eaten at nocturnal festivals called pannichis, though no recipe for charisios has survived. In the Byzantine era the dish, now recognizable as loukoumades, became a Lenten staple. Because it required only flour, yeast, water, and honey, it satisfied the strict dietary rules of Orthodox fasting. Monasteries embraced it, and alongside halva it stands as a marker of the culinary inventiveness of Orthodox Christians during that period.

Ritual, Mourning, and Everyday Life

Lokma occupies a remarkable position in both sacred and secular routines across the regions where it is prepared. In the Levant, Muslims serve it during Ramadan, Jews prepare it for Hanukkah, and Christians make it at Epiphany, a rare instance of a single dessert uniting three faiths in seasonal observance. In Turkey the dish takes on a deeply personal role in mourning: forty days after a death, close relatives and friends cook large quantities and distribute them to neighbors and passersby, who line up to receive a plate and then recite a prayer for the departed soul. In Greece, loukoumades function as a beloved street food, particularly in the south, often served with honey, cinnamon, walnuts, or chocolate sauce. The Romaniotes, Greek Jews, call them zvingoi and prepare them as Hanukkah treats, while Pontic Greek migrants displaced after the Lausanne Conference know them as tsirichta and serve them at weddings.