'Longest ever' organic labneh sandwich made in Lebanese town

Residents of the town of Arab Salim in southern Lebanon prepared an enormous labneh sandwich measuring 46 metres as part of a festival showcasing the area’s dairy products.

Dozens of volunteers helped make the sandwich, using locally produced marquq bread and dried mint as well as labneh. It took them less than half an hour.

Labneh is a type of strained yoghurt traditional to the Levant area. The organisers said that this was the largest ever sandwich made of organic, or baladi, labneh, according to the Lebanese Al-Janoubieh news website.

"شو هالإنجاز العظيم؟!".. بلدة لبنانية تحتفل بـ "أطول سندويشة لبنة"، إليكم التفاصيل!#OrientPlus pic.twitter.com/rj8f7OZcxe

— Orient أورينت (@OrientNews) May 15, 2023

In 2004, the world’s longest (non-organic) labneh sandwich was produced in the village of Kafr Qatra in Lebanon, measuring 720 metres.

Lebanon also holds the world record for the longest ever sandwich, according to Guinness World Records, for a 735-metre chicken sandwich made in Hazmieh near Beirut in 2011.

The organic labneh sandwich was made to draw attention to Arab Salim’s dairy production. The town hosts four cheese factories and a large number of dairy farms. Al-Janoubieh said that the festival was the first of its kind in southern Lebanon.

Zainab Al-Muqalled, who sponsored the festival, said "As citizens, we must work hard for what’s good in our town and our country."

Lebanon is currently in the midst of a severe and unprecedented economic crisis that has plunged tens of thousands of people into poverty.

A dairy factory owner quoted by Al-Janoubieh said that the town of Arab Salim has been producing dairy products for over three hundred years. He said that 22 cheeses were manufactured in the town, all made from organic milk.