Food That Starts with L: Local and Exotic

Do you know any more fun challenges than guessing as many as possible foods starting with a particular letter? If you want to win this contest, it is wise to start improving your knowledge and vocabulary.

In this post, we have brought together 50 aliments, ingredients, recipes, and foods that start with the letter L. So, in case you have been wondering what foods begin with L, then don’t worry, as you have come to the right place.

Rather than merely enumerating these aliments, we tried to keep the information informative and give you some tips and ideas regarding each food.

Also, don’t forget to look at the second part of this article, where we offer a more in-depth description of some of these L foods.

Ready? Let’s start counting.

50 Foods Starting With L

1. Ladyfinger – a delicious sponge cake with the shape of a finger.
2. Lager – a general term for a type of beer made from fermenting yeast.
3. Lambchop – chop cut from a flash of lamb.
4. Lamb – the general term for young domestic sheep, cooked as food.
5. Langouste – edible marine crustaceans, with a sharp, spiny carapace.
6. Lasagna – a famous Italian dish with layers of pasta, Ragu sauce, and cheese.
7. Lard – a semisolid fat, which comes from fatty tissues of the hog.
8. Lanseh – yellow berry-like fruit, coming from east India.
9. Langoustine – a lobster-like fish, usually originating from European waters.
10. Latte – a type of coffee with lots of milk and steamed milk foam.
11. Latke– a special dish containing eggs, potatoes, and some flour.
12. Leaf beet – usually eaten for its leaves, this is a beet without a swollen root.
13. Leaf Lettuce – a type of lettuce with curled leaves, without a compact head.
14. Lead Mustard – this is a mustard type used as a potherb.
15. Leek – large slender plant, with bulb leaves, perfect for cooking different dishes.
16. Lychee – also known as Litchi, this is a Chinese fruit.

    

17. Legume – pea plant or bean, coming from the Leguminosae family.
18. Lemon – yellow citrus fruit, with an acidic, sour taste.
19. Lekvar – a specialty filling for dessert, with different types of fruits.
20. Lemon Balm – a special mint, with yellow and white leaves, tastes like lemon.
21. Lemonade – a fluid with a mix of steel or sparkling water and fresh lemon juice.
22. Lentil – round seed from lentil plant, perfect for adding in curry dishes.
23. Lettuce – a huge plant from the Lactuca genus.
24. Loaf – is a special term, referring to the quantity of food such as bread.
25. Lobscouse – stew of meat and vegetables, very popular as a dish for sailors.
26. Loblolly – a thick form of porridge.
27. Lobster – a kind of different edible marine crustaceans, from the Palinuridae family.
28. Loganberry – referring to a variety of dewberries.
29. Loin – cut of meat, from the back and sides or animals, between ribs and rumps.
30. Lollipop – a candy with a stick.
31. Lolly – water ice, or ice cream, with a wooden stick.
32. Loquat – yellow-olive-sized fruit, very popular in jellies mostly.
33. Loganberry – a lychee-like Asian fruit.
34. Lovage – a special herb, coming from southern Europe.

    

35. Lozenge – small, medicated candy.
36. Lutefisk – a type of dried cod, firstly soaked in lye solution before boiling.
37. Licorice– black candy, with a nice flavor of licorice plant.
38. Liebfraumilch – Rhenish wine, with a very sweet flavor.
39. Liederkranz – soft cheese, but with a particular flavor.
40. LIMA beans – broad flat beans that need to be cooked before eating.
41. Limburger – soft white cheese, with a strong smell.
42. Lime – green acidic fruit, from different lime trees.
43. Limeade – water and lime juice, with a sweet flavor.
44. Limpa – rye bread, made with molasses and brown sugar.
45. Limpet – marine gastropods, with low canonical shell.
46. Lingcod – fish from the northern Pacific.
47. Lingonberry – a type of berries, smaller, coming from America.
48. Linguine – a model of pasta, with long slender flat strips.
49. Liqueur – strong flavored sweet liquor, used as a digestif.
50. Liverwurst – a sausage that contains ground liver.

Culture, and Some Recipes for Food that Starts with L

Now that we have the whole list with 50 L foods, it’s time to move on to some more in-depth descriptions. We took different dishes, drinks, and ingredients and talked about their origins, nutritional values, as well as interesting recipes.

1. Lasagna

One of the most famous foods starting with L, Lasagna is a special dish, coming from Italy, and it has cheese, tomato sauce, and a special Ragu sauce, with meat. All these ingredients are carefully layered, so all the dish is then cooked in the oven.

Lasagna has a rectangular shape, with thick-sliced pasta within it. The dish’s initial name came from the cooking pan Italians used to prepare it, but now, the dish itself has the name Lasagna.

Nutritional Value

Considering this food has lots of ingredients, meaning it combines carbs, with proteins, and fat, Lasagna is quite rich in calories. As such, one serving piece of 100 grams has 130 calories, 7% fat and 5% carbohydrates.

Of course, these numbers will change, depending on the recipe you are using.

Recipes

There are lots of recipes for Lasagna, but the famous one has Ragu meat sauce and Bechamel sauce. If you are vegetarian, you can make Lasagna with spinach, ricotta and tomato sauce.

It is delicious! Don’t forget to add some Basil on top. Here is some inspiration for your recipes.

2. Lanseh

Known as Duku Fruit, Lanseh comes from the Lansium parasiticum family, and it is a special fruit, cultivated in India, Southwest Asia, Malay Archipelago, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Lanseh comes with a green ripening to yellow, pale orangey-yellow or golden yellow.

Nutritional Value

Lanseh has a tangy, sour and sweet taste. These fruits are low in calories, but full of antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients that will help keep yourself healthy.

Health Benefits

Eating Lanseh will help prevent premature aging, cancer, strengthen your teeth, bones, and help those who have digestive issues. Moreover, these little fruits are ideal for maintaining gum health, and improving the immune system.

Warning!

Eating raw fruits will give you that astringent effect on your tongue and throat. These chewing seeds of the fruits might cause a bit of aftertaste and an unpleasant sensation for some people.

People with diabetes should avoid eating Lanseh, as they have high sugar content. Too much consumption might cause bloating and gas.

Recipes

Lanseh is great in syrups, but also fresh, in candies. Fruits are great cooked or raw.

3. Latke

Latke’s origins come from the Middle Ages, describing a dish made of cheese (ricotta or curd cheese), all fried in butter or oil. People think that Latke was served next to fruit preserves.

Latkes were very popular among Ashkenazi communities, until the 19th century. Once the potato became popular in eastern Europe, latke became even more famous. Jewish usually make Latke as a Hanukkah delicacy, mixing raw potatoes with flour and shortening.

Nutritional Value

Latke is fried like a buckwheat pancake, using eggs, potatoes and Italian cheese. This dish is crispy and delicious, but also caloric, so eat it with precaution if you are on diet.

Recipes

There are different recipes for Latke, so you can make it grated, as a puree, baked, or mixing them with vegetables, legumes, cheeses, and starches. Other versions of this dish contain sweet onion, gruyere, zucchini, even sweet potatoes. Here is the easiest recipe.

4. Lychee

With the “Litchi chinensis” name, Lychee is a medium sized tree, with edible fruits. Lychee is native from Southern China, and it is close to other tropical families, like mamoncillo or longan.

Nutritional Value

The taste of Lychee fruits is sweet, but distinct from any other fruits. Their color is translucent to white. For 1 cup of Lychee, you will have 125 calories, 1.58 g of protein and 31.41 carbohydrates.

Health Benefits

Lychee are full of vitamins, like B6, B2, C and Copper. Furthermore, these fruits support digestion, enhance immunity, prevent cancer, and maintain blood pressure.

Precautions

Diabetic patients should not consume these fruits, but only in limited amounts. If you have surgery, stop eating Lychee before two weeks. Some of you might have allergies, or gastrointestinal problems.

Recipes

Lychee are perfect in salads, fruit cups, but they can be also added to a mixture of mayonnaise and cream cheese, also in whipped cream. Here is what you can prepare using Lichee.

5. Lentils

Lentils are some of the oldest pulse crops ever known, but still some of the earliest crops cultivated in the Old World. The oldest remains of lentils alongside human habitations were in 11,000 BC, in Greece. However, the origins of lentils are in Western and Central Asia.

Nutritional Value

Lentils have an earthy, yet slightly peppery taste. For 1 cup of lentils, you will have 101 kcals. Lentils are rich in copper, iron, phosphorus, lysine and Manganese.

Health Benefits

Lentils are also rich in phytic acid, as well as lots of vitamins and minerals that our body will receive once digested. Furthermore, lentils improve our B vitamins and beta carotene. These little foods will help break down the sugars, which are the main cause for intestinal gas.

Recipes

There are lots of recipes containing lentils. From salads, to lentils fritters, here is some inspiration for cookers.

Last Thoughts

These are some of the most exciting foods starting with L. It is hard mentioning all of them, as we have language and country barriers. Do you know some popular others we have missed? Let us know your personal preferences.