Lebanese to Israel: Hands off our hummus!

Hummus is a traditional Jewish dish passed to the Arabs from Mizrahim. Israel needs to sponsor Israeli chefs to create a larger Hummus dish to reclaim the Jewis right and recognition of the Hummus as Jewish

you have the intellect of a peasant. What do you think Israelis of Mizrachi origin ate???

Israeli can be broken down into Polish/Russian/German/Hungarian/French/Greek/Italian AND Iraqi/Morroccan/Yemenite/Lebanese/Syrian/Egyptian/Libyan/Tunisian/Ethiopian Did I forget to mention part of my Moms the Jews whom stayed there for the last Thousand years in Jerusalem/Tiberias/Safed/Nazereth/Acre/Jaffa such as my own family??? And guess what Israelis intermarried with eachother much more easily so you have someone like me with European and Middle Eastern family. BTW: there is such a thing called Israeli Arabs Druse/Beduin/and even Galilee Arabs :-)

the Middle Eastern(Mizrachi Jews) brought Middle Eastern Cuisine with them, the Ashkenazim brought Schnitzel and Gifelte Fish. Are we all happy now???

does Israel forfeit the right because of its cuisine because other Arabs said so??? notwithstanding the Jews that ended up fleeing those country's bringing their own cuisine.

than Lebanese and other Arab nations have claim to Hummus :-) Guess who bought the Middle Eastern cuisine into Israel, Jews who fled from those Arab country's aswell as the Druse and Beduin in addition to other Israeli Arabs that stayed on. BTW: My family have been in Tiberias for hundreds of generations,intermarried with refugees from Europe and Arab country's anyone still wanna argue about Hummus???

You mentioned "Many Lebanese Jews are still here" Can you give an educated estimate of how many remain?? To my knowledge, most fled after the '48 war, at best your "many" would only consist of a bare handful RSVP

Here, in the USA, what I find are Hummus of various varieties, manufactured by either Sabra or Tribe companies So, Tribe can be either Hebrew Or Arab Sabra, no doubt about it, that sure is Israeli

Yes, made in Switzerland. The Techina comes from Macedonia. The chick peas from Argentina. The sesame oil from Israel. The olive oil from Greece or Italy. We shall call it,..Hummus. Care to litigate..?

fantastic !!!! While in Israel they get Nobel price in Chemistry, Physics, literature & economy, while in Israel they invent, develop and have great researches, while in Israel they built the finest industy in the world ..... What the Arabs do: Hummus !!! Shame on you !!!!

Israelis are mostly Jews from all over the world. Most real, non-assimilated Jews are actually all the same ethnicity. Although Ashkenazic, Mizrahi, and Sepharic Jews slightly differ in cuisine, language and culture, for the most part, they look the same, believe the same things, and traditions are not all too foreign to one another. This is suprising, granted the geographic distances between the diaspora communities. As Armenians and Gypsies (Roma) are scattered accross the globe, so are Jews, many from the Middle East, we have largely moved to the cradle of our civilization, Israel. Sorry if you don't believe we are a legitimite people but your opinion really does not matter, AT ALL.

your properties in Beirut are still yours, no one took them, unlike what israelis did to palestinian properties. Hisballa is a big subject that can not be discussed in few lines, however, in short, these guys are lebanese and they have the right to self defense. Finally, I could still sense your lebanese temperament :) and I am saying that in a positive way... yalla bye, hope to see you in beirut.

"you started to see us as traitors. It is typical of Arab mentality" First, some zionist jews were traitors indeed, and the "typical arab mentality" was always that of tolerance and acceptance, arabs are from different religious backgrounds, they always were, and you are an arab yourself, no? Second, no one expelled you, you can now return to lebanon, it is your homeland, and many lebanese jews are still there and are dear members of the lebanese multi-cultural multi-religious community.

Welsh "rarebit" is folk or popular etymology, meaning that the original name was misunderstood by the speakers and thus modified into a more familiar-sounding expression. "Welsh" plus a noun means "not," just as does "Dutch" (a "Dutch treat" is not a "treat," since each one pays for his or her own). That is because of the English disdain for the Welsh and the Dutch. Often, when a hunter came home empty-handed, the wife would take old bread and spread on a sauce made of Cheddar cheese, ale and spices. So that was a "Welsh rabbit," meaning that the hunter had caught no rabbit!

Is hummus Russian like Lieberman? or Polish like Peres? Chickpeas are all but unknown under these latitudes, so stop all this propaganda claiming that there is something that is "Israeli"

Ask any Israeli mom and child and they will tell you hummus is Israeli. After all, it is the first solid food given to an Israeli baby, not cereal. We have all types of hummus. We buy it from the Arab villages/restuarants and Arabs buy our style which incidentally comes from the Jewish immigrants from Arab lands and we have given it our own taste so you poor, deprived Aussies, only having Lebanese style.

in texas, in 1982 i did see in palestinian exibition the BIBLE as bigger contribution of pals to the world. complex of inferiority maybe....

Part 2 ? cont'd. Another neighborly reminder goes out to the Lebanese gastronomical intelligentsia: While you are worrying yourselves sick about getting your share of the global hummus market, how about devoting an equal amount of worry (or more appropriately 'consternation') to your cancerous terror group HAMMAS?? Now there's a side-dish you can make claim to as having originated on your territory . . . or CAN you? And on a final musical note: I say tomayto, you say tomawto . . .I say da-Hummus, you say da-Hammas . . . hummus-hammas, hammas-hummus . . . let's call the whole thing off!

Israel was only created in 1948.

It's Middle Eastern & Also Greek, the proper name is "Pita" Pizza dough & Matzah's also came from the ME, Spaghetti originated in China So what's your point, it just seems you can't take a joke when it's handed to you on a platter

I swear we are crazy- even fight over humus. No hope in ME :)

More one conspiracy theory... A zionist plan for mass immigration.. you mean, the Zionists combined with the Arab Governments to expell the Jews? Do you really think that rich families like mine, with houses in Ras Beirut or Qantari, would leave everything behind to live in a uncertain life in Israel? So why Jews from the US or Canada didnt do the same? Why you Lebanese always create this conspiracy theories instead of just facing reality? The first lesson you should learn is not to claim ownership of Hummus, but to claim ownership of your country. FOr that you should rein Hizbullah. Then come to talk about Lebanese Jews, hummus and the like. Au bientot, yalla, bye.

Hummus Falafel Couscous Choucroute Shawarmah Spaghetti Frites Cassoulet .... Lebanese Israeli Moroccan Polish Egyptian Belgian French ? What is the matter ? Eat and Peace !!!

Coffee was discovered in Ethiopia. It was brought from Ethiopia to Arab countries and from there to Turkey. It is a traditional Ethiopian beverage and is grown in Ethiopia.

Watch the "Zohan" movie!

the tail that wags the dog in Lebanon. Attitudes and actions concerning Jews and Judaism Main article: Ideology of Hezbollah#Attitudes, statements, and actions concerning Jews and Judaism Hezbollah officials say that the group distinguishes between Judaism and Zionism. However, various anti-Semitic statements have been attributed to them, and their Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah.[65] Hezbollah accused Jews of deliberately spreading H.I.V. and other diseases to Arabs throughout the Middle East.[66][67][68] Al-Manar, the Hezbollah-owned and operated television station, was criticized for airing "anti-Semitic propaganda" in the form of a television drama depicting a Jewish world domination conspiracy.[69][70][71] Hezbollah also used antisemitic educational materials designed for 5-year-old scouts.[72][73] Likewise, the group has been accused of engaging in Holocaust denial, and supporting Holocaust deniers.[74][75] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezzbollah

"you were lebanese for hundreds of years, so why not now?" Why dont you ask your governments in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt why they expelled us? We were deep ingrained in your societies, we loved our roots, and all of the sunder, you started to see us as traitors. It is typical of Arab mentality, there is nothing to do with Zionists. Do you really think that one zionist would come to Buenos Aires or New York and say "listen, go to Israel, people are bad here", do you think we would go? You dont see any differnce betwen the attitudes of countries like the US, Iran, UK, Brazil, Argentine, that tretead well their Jewish communities and Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq that expelled them? Stop blaming other for your faults. Just say: "me made a mistake. We should nor have expelled you" . Simple as that.

Have you ever had Lebanese falafel? It should really be called feel-awful. Talk about major gas pains.

They use a lot more spices-especially cumin. It is very good, but make it with Lebanese tahini and it would be perfect.

"the feeling of being a stranger in Lebanon after hundreds of years of integration." It was the zionist movement who wanted jews to immigrate, that was their main plan, and you were simply one of their victims. you were lebanese for hundreds of years, so why not now?

It is funny... I am also from Beirut and now living in the BsAs. I can still remember my gramma telling me stories about the fear of saying we were Jews, about the impact of Nasser on the Arab masses and the feeling of being a stranger in Lebanon after hundreds of years of integration. Do you really believe that during all the wars Lebanon supported against Israel, the Lebanse treated us fairly? You never felt like a 5th column? Or you are not telling the true or you are not a Lebanese Jew, sorry, dude.

It was the Jewish refugees from Arab lands that brought Hummus to israel and other dishes.

HUMUS. ARAB ? Nonsense ! The common Indians have been eating 'Humua' which they call it in another name,for over 5,000 years ! If you ever go to India,& you're not afraid,or ashamed to sit with the fine common people,just taste their 'Humus' with 'Chapati'. It's unequalled in taste & flavour. No Arab or for that matter Israeli humus can remortly compete with the Indian 'Humus'! Next time you go to India taste it ! It leaves Arab humus in the shade !

Lebanese women should immediately get out of pants and especially jeans--everyone knows that Lebanese women should be intraditional dress and if Israel cannot enjoy a traditional ME meal the Arab women must follow suit and get out of pants and into a burqa. Afterall, we must all go back to our food and clothing of origina and never, never fail to give credit to the country of origin for anything we encounter or use during the course of a day. In other words this is profoundly f'ng stupid.

You want to study societies study their evolving cookbooks. In my 50 years I love my Mom's Lebanese cooking but you do not vary the ingredients or make any changes without a lot of stress. A little more parsley in the tabbouleh or an extra half lemon sqeezed into the hummus is enough. This is my final letter on the topic -at least for now. But I note other societies adapt to changing eating habits -French, Italian, cookbooks do vary while other societies mass market and call it food.

that is how it is called... a lebanese first name and a lebanese family name.

If you want the finest hummus you go to a middle eastern store and buy the tahini paste marketed in Lebanon which is the only kind worth its weight and nine times out of ten what they carry. However, too much tahini paste is fattening. I have learned to leave it out -apologies to my Grandma. The secret is to make it with plenty of fresh lemon juice. The stuff they mass market doesn't compare.

My mother makes the best Hummus anyway.

Humus by itself is too dry, it needs nice crisp felafel balls and some veggies to make it really enjoyable Don't forget the pepper sauce & Gazoz

Keep your shiet!!!

יד ו?י??אמ?ר ל?ה ב?ע?ז ל?ע?ת ה?א?כ?ל, ג??ש??י ה?ל?ם ו?א?כ?ל?ת?? מ?ן-ה?ל??ח?ם, ו?ט?ב?ל?ת?? פ??ת??ך?, ב??ח?מ?ץ; ו?ת??ש??ב, מ?צ??ד ה?ק??צ?ר?ים, ו?י??צ?ב??ט-ל?ה? ק?ל?י, ו?ת??אכ?ל ו?ת??ש??ב??ע ו?ת??ת?ר. The Original^ The word Hummus in Hebrew: ב?ח?מ?ץ The word in Arabic is حمص Which is the same root. Everyone knows the Hebrew Chet (ח) is a the Arabic ح and that the צ and ص are the same. However the Arabic saud no longer sounds like the Hebrew tzadi (compare צדיק and صديق، which has also had some semantic changes)

Land, water, humus they are just a few of the problems that can be obstacles to real peace in the Middle East There will never be real peace between Israel and the arabs because no sooner have we reached an agreement on one thing another problem will arise. The idea of a lasting peace is a myth the arabs and Israel will always find something to fight over. As for the case of the stolen humus well is not a secret recipe and is not unique to Lebanon, its an old dish thats spread all over the region and further.... Lebanon ownership rights over humus. If an Israeli company wants to market its own brand of humus that has been made in Israel and say its an Israeli dish well its the truth because it was made in Israel. I hope somebody is going to remind the russians & italians that we make vodka and pizza in Israel now. I do hope that there will be an official UN investigation into this criminal Israeli food theft.

No, you did not kick them out but they returned home. Be happy and eat your hummus with the hammas. You should support Israel, they left you and now hisballah can have the whole of Lebanon, Iran and Syria too. You must be very very happy.

I have had Lebanese Hummus, Syrian Hummus, Palestinian Hummus and Egyptian Hummus. They are not the same. Syrian hummus has yogurt in it. Even within the regions there are secret family recipes. That is like saying that Pulled Pork barbeque is from Tennessee as if it is possible to restrict food recipes by national or international boundaries. This Hummus thing is just a cover for much deeper conflicts. Peace. Stephen

.When everybody knows that Turkey doesn"t grow a single gram of coffee.Would be equivalent to calling "norwegian tea" a packet of tea roasted and packed in Norway. Hummus is really an arabic name,not hebrew and falafel is of egyptian origin,but at least chickpeas are grown in Israel.

Listen Palestinian Prince. It's reasonable to assume that the Jewish people wherever they settled whether in European or Middle Eastern regions, they nevertheless established their own Jewish cuisine with the staple foods and spices of the area. For my father's 75th birthday years ago, I initiated a game for dinner tables to come up with the most numbers of Iraqi Jewish kubbes....well they took the task seriously and the winner came up with 12 different kubbes!(they won a ceramic bowl for placing their own homemade kubbes.) Did I have a good laugh, let me tell you. Are we now going to compete as to who created the first dumplings? It's silly really but I must admit that one has to be somewhat an expert chef to do these delicacies. For Israel's 50th anniversary at a convention centre, I was asked to do an Iraqi Jewish food demonstration/taste. Well...let me tell you that I stayed up to 2:00 am and had to call my mother to come and help make these chickpea dumplings!

Come on people!! Everyone with any iota of knowledge about cuisine will tell you that what makes hummus great is the creaminess and perfection that tahini imparts on it. And the world's best tahini has forever come from Lebanon! If something as simple as hummus has withstood the test of time, it is because the Lebanese people have perfected it with their tahini!

Cooking tells a lot about a country. Lebanese cherish their food. But many cooks have a hard time varying the dishes even slightly. One arguement is you cannot do better than perfection. Another is unlike French cooking, Arab cooking is reflective of being more conservative which means you don't try to do a variation on the recipe. The best hummus is made with plenty of fresh lemon juice. I do like to vary the recipe here and there. I know be it the conservative Middle East, we don't mess with the recipe. But there are so many interesting takes on this dish.

Maybe it sounds banal but this is the right way to reclaim our national dishes. When I lived in Berlin I had to laugh when I saw' it was in the '80s' during the "Green Week" (an international food exhibition) at the Israeli Stand that Hummus and Falafal were Israeli national dishes, I stood there & was flabbergasted ! and oh I forgot : Arab Coffe turned to Turkish, inspite of the fact that millions of Israeli Jews were offered Arab coffee in Arab homes and shops and know that this belongs to our hospitality rituals like water for fish they propagate it as "Turkish", it's a pity that the constant attempts to erase everything that has the slightest whiff to be original Arab never stopps even if it makes people laugh like I did with those who accompanied me. Does this show that the people we are sharing our homeland with have an inferiority complex ?

I regularly buy Israeli (SABRA brand) hummus at the COSCO stores, and frankly, it tastes much better than the Lebanese hummus on e can get in Montreal in the dozens of Lebanese stores (such as ADONIS). But hummus as such was developed Middle East wide, not just in Lebanon. It is absurd for a tiny spec of land to claim ownership for a Middle Eastern specialty.

Hummus needs another Balfour Declaration!!

I prefer Guacamole.

If your wife advertise Sushi as an Israel made Food then that'd be a problem. by the way what's about their Syrian and Iranian Friend. also if you don't want to worry about What you call State inside State just give Back the land you occupied from Lebanon , and Stop Fly your airplane over Lebanon in daily basis.

... the bane-of-my-life was eating my mother's chicken-soup... gagged every time I had to eat it... ... yet I took like a fish-in-water to Israeli hummus... ... now my mizrahi Sabra grand-children eat only the chicken-soup that safta (that's me) makes... according to the old Lithuanian recipe... ... nu, go understand how the chicken-soup genes are shuffled around...

less cumin and garlic, rich in lemon, smoother, not so fiery. Greeks have had hummus for centuries. I had some great Lebannese hummus in London, and some great Egytian. Yes I have had some in the Old City, good and bad, and some in Greece. Some by Druse, some by Syrian Palestinians. All different in different ways. Also had some good Israeli too. Home made is far better than supermarket creations. I do not think anyone has the monopoly on Hummus. It can be found everything in the region. Jamie Oliver makes some great Hummus too.

"...As for myself, Jewish of Eastern European heritage, I fell it a bit sad that Ashkenazi Jews in Israel never opened stands with Chicken Soup..." - European Jew As a Jew of combined direct Mid Eastern and European descent (though most all Jews are ultimately of Mid Eastern descent, whether Ashkenazim and Arabs like it or not), I also wouldn't mind a chicken soup stand or 2 in Tel Aviv. Luckily my lady is well adept at cooking Mid Eastern dishes, European dishes and more. :-) HOWEVER, I find it sad that some (and I say "some" relatively, as there are few Jews total compared to non-Jews worldwide) "European" Jews in Israel insist on wearing the Hasidic garb which may have had some meaning in Eastern Europe but is TOTALLY ridiculous, maladaptive and out-of-place here in the land of our origin - Israel. And if israelis by and large have returned to preference of local MidEastern foods over Euro foods, I say KOL HAKAVOD to them!

...that was entertaining, and lebanese know how to enjoy themselves.

Hummus from Israel is Israeli hummus. Hummus from Lebanon is Lebanese. Israelis are selling their hummus very well. In Belgium supermarkets sell Israeli hummus and not Lebanese. Only small shops owned by Arabs sell Lebanese hummus. Denmark is big producer of feta, and even now they still are, allthough they are not allowed to call it feta. When you say pasta you think of Italy and not China where pasta originated. If Lebanon succeeds in protecting the name "hummus", they will not be able to prevent Israelis from selling "chick pea dip". Lebanese refer to Greece and feta, and its protection within the European Union but forget that Greece is a member state and Lebanon is not.

On the one hand, I think it's difficult and somewhat simplistic to put an ethnic or nationalist label on food -particularly hummus. Hummus is eaten not only in most of the Middle East, but also in Greece. Thessaloniki in Greece was once home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world, up until the Nazi occupation. Similarly, Baghdad once held a very vast Jewish community. As someone already remarked, it is really only natural that Jews fleeing places such as Thessaloniki or Baghdad would bring with them the food that they had always eaten to there new place of residency, be it Tel Aviv, New York or Paris. However, I think there is a sense of appropriation of hummus in Israel as "something Israeli" which is obviously also somewhat illogical. Israel as a state is around 60 years old, while hummos is already thousands of years old! As for myself, Jewish of Eastern European heritage, I fell it a bit sad that Ashkenazi Jews in Israel never opened stands with Chicken Soup...

...to blend into the ME as seamlessly as possible... while munching hummus-in-pita... ...after all, it's not as if we have fouled the hummus with Heinz-Ketchup or pepped it up with horse-radish left over from Pesach...

Palestinian. Israel should stop claiming it as theirs. Theodore Herzl wasn't having hummus for breakfast in Hungary. Try the hummus in the old city of Jerusalem made by Palestinians.

If it was Hebrew it would be pronounced kummus or khummus lol. I hope that answers the question, but a very good point indeed.

claimants can be Egyptian, Syrian, Morrocan, Algerian, Jordanian, Saud,even Greece has a version of the stuff. So Greek too. All are traditional foods in thes countries and all have different emphasis , some cumin based, others lemon. So come on be fair. Israel has as much right to claim Hummus as ther rest. It is a middle eastern and eastern Med food staple.

How do you call chickpeas in hebrew? .. The dish is really called Hummus-bel-tahini, which if translated to english would mean "chickpeas with sesami paste". Hummus is used for a short.

therefore the Lebanese cannot claim ownership. It is the same with the Tamal, a dish made with corn that is very popular in Mexico, Central America, and known in Colombia and Cuba. Probably originated among Mexican Indians in Central Mexico, but it spread and all its variants are legitimate. A Salvatorean, Guatemalan or Cuban tamal tastes different from a Mexican one, but all are legitimate. The same happens with humus (is the Iraqi or Jordan or Israeli less legitimate than the Lebanese? NO). And what about "Turkish cofee"? It is really Arab cofee, even if in Greece is known as "Greek cofee". It is very different with food or drink that comes from a very localized region, like Champaign or Tequila (from the region of Tequila in Jalisco, Mexico). In these cases, taking legal action to protect the product from imitations makes sense, those drinking some Japanese made bottle claiming to be Tequila or Champaign would know they are not drinking the real stuff.

Chummous has been eaten much longer than Lebanon has existed. The country was created post WWI and humanity has been eating hummous for centuries.

can anyone here tell me if hummus is a hebrew, or, arabic word? this should determine if hummus is lebanese or israeli.

Azizi Iraqi Jew, Thanks to Haaretz that brings us together. I agree with your assertions accept on thing: Most Arabs, like myself, are not happy to see our own Jewish brothers and sisters leave their homeland in all Arab States. The whoe thing was very stupid on both sides. Some Jews weree forced out of their Arab homes to prove that Co existence does not work. They and you should have never left, just like the Israeli Arabs who still maintain home in todays Israel

which, just like those at masada, is neither here nor there when it comes to the lebanese dish of hummus; is it? come to think of it though, maybe jericho is where the ancient israelites [a-hemmm] "discovered" chickpeas...ya think?

Lebanon was never hostile to its Jewish Community. In fact, Lebanon recently embarked on a historical project to re develop its main synogague in the heart of Beirut. Many Arab Jews left their homes and businesses for no reason. My humble observation for 18 years as a foreign journalist in Lebanon.

Hummus is Middle Eastern. Jews Are Middle Eastern. Arabs are Middle Eastern. The Hummus and Tabouleh Revolution rages on. When the Pals were kicked out of Palestine, they made promised to attack the Jews with Falafel and eggs made bombs. The result was toxic, and hot air continues to come out.

Nasrallah does not eat Humus. He eats Iranian Caviar.

We all have to obey an essential rule in life. If you don't eat, for a very prolonged time, you will die! People from all religions/cultures must obey this rule... Food fights are silly. Both Australia and NZ claim to have invented the Pavlova cake. Who cares who is right. Hummus has been a part of Levantine diet for thousands of years so good luck to Lebanese if they want to claim to have invented it. The original dish of hummus must be a bit stale by now... At the Jewish Food Fair here in Canberra, I usually make a bee line to the falafel stand but there are foods from Jewish communities from all over the whole planet there. To find who invented the various recipes would be a hard job. Good luck to foodie sleuths! Make hummus not war!

a MidEastern dish. You write of minority of Jews in Arab countries - Jews ALWAYS were minority in any country but Israel. You put "Arab" against "Israeli" - don't you see that Jews ARE Arabs in many ways? We are your COUSINS, if not BROTHERS! And this INCLUDES Jews who spent centuries in Europe - many who pass easily as Arabs EVERY DAY. Put a keffiyeh on Peres and you know he will pass as MidEast Arab, no problem. Put hasidic wear on Nasrallah and he will pass as Euro Jew, no problem. It is obvious we have related language, culture and race. Family, for crying out loud, the worst kind of fight. Once more Arabs and Jews admit how close we truly are, most of our conflict will be solved. Wake up and eat the hummus! Once

Didn't Ariel Sharon make that an Israeli specialty?

Compromise can be reached. Sparkling wine cannot be label champagne unless it's been fermented in Champagne region of France. Probably the same can be applied to hummus of Lebanon.

but was commercialised by the lebanese. Israel has nothing to do with hummus, they picked it up from the arab - israelis.

Lebanon is not a real country. It was carved out of Syria by the French to protect the Maronites. They named the country after a mountain.

which, just like those at masada, is neither here nor there when it comes to the lebanese dish of hummus; is it? come to think of it though, maybe jericho is where the ancient israelites [a-hemmm] "discovered" chickpeas...ya think?

Just like the early Eastern European immigrants into Palestine that sought to become as "integrated" into the region as possible - just like when they took the famous Jaffa orange and called it a "Zionist miracle", and took in the cuisine and culture from the neighboring areas to fend off the sense of diaspora - so did it adapt aspects of other cultures into its own. True, it is just food - but the fact that, oddly enough, certain foods are a part of Israeli identity trying to be "Middle Eastern" says a lot.

Actually not. Lebanon was only a piece of the Syria until 1910's when it was split off by the French post WW I. So Hummous is bean in existence much longer than Lebanon.

"Some 300 chefs were involved in preparing Saturday's massive ceramic plate of hummus in a huge tent set up in downtown Beirut. The white-uniformed chefs used 1,350 kilograms of mashed chickpeas, 400 liters of lemon juice and 26 kilograms of salt to make the dish, weighing 2,056 kilograms." You call this hummus? If you followed this recipe your hummus would taste like Lebanese hummus. First of all, as we all know, too many cooks spoil the broth. But 300 chefs? You must be kidding. Second, they used mashed chickpeas? No Fair! They need to use whole chickpeas and mash them themselves. Third, I doubt they used fresh squeezed lemon juice (if they had then they would have reported the number of lemons used, not the volume of lemon juice). And, obviously most important, where is the tehina? This hummus recipe is a disgrace! No ... it's a culinary crime of the first order, which needs to be investigated immediately. Does anyone have Goldstone's phone number?

Can the Hezbanese get a life please.

My wife (of Polish and Russian ancestry) makes the best hummus I ever had. But I also like the hummus at Falafel Express on Reseda Blvd. in Tarzana. And when I was a kid I used to sneak out of my school yard in Tel Aviv to buy hummus at a nearby office building cafeteria because I loved it so much. I have had some pretty bad hummus in both Israeli AND Lebanese restaurants (e.g., Aroma, Carnival). And have you ever had Iranian so-called "hummus?" I'm telling you, it's disgusting. I think they make it with yogurt. YOGURT! And why in the world would you buy pre-made hummus, such as Sabra brand, which is quite nasty. Make it yourself people, and make it your own. So what's the best hummus in the world? It's the one YOU like best. But I see that the Lebanese take hummus quite seriously. So if Lilliput and Blefuscu fought over which end of the egg must be broken first, then I could see Hezbanon picking a fight over this.

Hummus is most likely mentioned in the Ruth 2:14 "And Boaz said unto her at meal-time: 'Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the Hometz.' And she sat beside the reapers; and they reached her parched corn, and she did eat and was satisfied, and left thereof." Now the word Hometz is mistranslated in most versions as Vinegar (the mistranslation has even carried over into modern Hebrew). The word for chick-peas in Hebrew is Himtza. I really doubt Boaz was offering Ruth (a lady he had the hots for) vinegar to dip her bread in... talk about nasty. Not only does Hometz appear to be a variant of the Hebrew word for Chick-peas... it sure does sound like Hummus. Plus Boaz gave her Hometz to dip her bread in... hmmm a word that is a variant of Chick-peas, describing a dish you dip your bread in, that sounds a lot like Hummus. We Win

My wee daughter makes the best Humus I've ever tasted and she took it from an Australian cookbook. So how about that?

I must admit, Lebanese food is the best. Menschenskind, talk about leaving Lebanon looking like two-ton Tessie! WOW!

Israel should be willing to give up trademark and export rights to Hummus, Falafel etc. and the Lebanese agree to expel all jihadi organisations including "hizbollah", and establish and maintain normal diplomatic relations with Israel.

Hummus is yummy, too bad the arabs cannot just enjoy it without using it as an anti semitic spring board. Like bacteria, hoummus seems to the serve as a culture for anti semitic infection. To the lebanese I say: are you jealous of the marketing success the Sabra hoummus products enjoy all over the USA? Is not about politics, you know, is about acumen. Sabra does not claim they invented the hoummus. They just make a great product, distribute it well, and advertise it properly. If you used more time productively instead of blaming the Jews for everything, you could succeed too. Salam aleikum

after you left we discover oil so much of it that we drag the american all the way to come and get it why did you run away for promise land that not much promise in it come back here frankly i prefer you over the wahabi and kurdi that roaming around

What if I tell you all that hummus is originally a mayan dish from south mexico. Will you be quiet for a while and give it a rest to all these denigrating conflicts. VIVA MEXICO

Sorry, but Lebanese & Arabic Hummus is Inferior to Israeli. Chicago Pizza is better than anywhere else. Romanian Sausage Co in Chicago Hot Dogs are also the best. You will not taste a better Foi Gras than you will at Chef Jean Joho's Everest in Chicago. Smoked Meat in Montreal is better than any Pastrami in the U. S. These are the facts! You Lebanese can drown Nasrallah in your furcocta Hummus!

"so u were living in harmony till Israel existed?" - ClearCut Israel existed long before most all states in the region. Jews were oppressed in the MidEast in many diasporas, for ages. Iraqi Jew and most people are well aware of this, and just as aware that the anti-Jews somehow couldn't finish us off, no matter where and when they tried. Yes, it is Israel's rebirth that REALLY gets your goat, isn't it?

I like that message: yes yes yes. MORE HUMUS LESS HAMAS, Shalom from a Spaniard to ALL ISRAELIS ! :)

Then we take over Israel...hahahahahahahahahah

why do Jewish people in Israel go to eat the best Hummus in Arab towns and Cities or at Arab resturants? It is simple. Because they don't know how to make it tasty because they don't own it

Who cares whether the lebanese make a big bowl of humus or a small bowl of humus....the main thing is that the country is run by syrian and hezbollah thugs. So you people in lebanon eat your humus and worry about who is going to kill you off and the rest of us will eat humus and be thankful that we are in decent countries that do not covet terrorists. Enough said...now go and enjoy your chick peas.

You're a liar, lebanon is the only country in the middle east who's jewish population ROSE after the creation of israel. Furthermore, most of us jews didn't leave to go to israel, we left in the 1980s like all the other religious groups bc of the war ... being jewish had nothing to do with it. Don't for a second try to say that Lebanese Jews were forced out ... I was born and raised there and only moved to the states for economic reasons but maintain strong familial, social and financial relationships with lebanese people ... and every one of them knows I'm jewish and I've never been discriminated against. Take your hate and your lies elsewhere because Lebanese Jews are the exception to every formula and every rule!

Does anybody know who holds the present Sauerkraut competition?

... Austria, Germany, and the US are locked in a fierce court battle over registration of the wiener / frankfurter / hot dog. The American kennel Club has further muddied the legal waters, insisting on copyrighting the phrase 'wiener dog' for the German dachshund. An Israeli manufacturer, Hebrew National, has entered an amicus curiae brief, claiming that a 'higher authority' says the food item is actually Jewish. However, a consortium of Lebanese businessmen have claimed it as originally and indisputably Lebanese. 'We've been eating this stuff for four thousand years,' said Fatty Jreissati, vice president of operations at Everything in the World is Lebanese, Inc. MV

Yes, well, almost a million Jews were kicked out of Arab countries from 1947 to the early 1950s - finally you are admitting it! So what's the fuss about Palestinians being fleeing and being kicked out of Israel after 1948?

Or is it another way how to demonize Israel? Accusing her of hummus theft?

My wife makes a great sushi. Does it means sushi is an israeli dish? Is she stealing something from Japan? We both can est houmous, as we can both eat pizza and sushi! Dear Lebanese, get a life! Worry about your wonderful government, your Syrian and Iranian friends and your "State inside the State" Pali minority.

Depends on what historic period you're talking about. There were many instances in our history in what is now Iraq where Jews prospered & numerous instance where they suffered terribly from persecution. Jews like other non-Muslim minorities like Christians, were dhimmis, or 2nd citizens, forced to pay a tax called the Jizya tax for not converting to Islam, among other forms of discrimination that existed. I wouldn't call it "harmonious till Israel existed" because there were violent riots & the terrible Farhud massacre against Jews in Baghdad before the state of Israel existed...to cut a long story short, we are Middle-Eastern people & this is part of our culture & identity & history. Rather than look at things like food, music and traditions that overlap & connect us, some ppl, especially Israel-haters & anti-Zionists try to erase our existence & naively claim that Israel is "white colonialist" while Palestinians are only the "oppressed natives." Hazaq u Barukh & Shabua3 Tob

Maybe China should sue Singapore over the so-called Singaporean noodle and Singaporean fried rice. Heck, come to think of it, China should prepare a massive lawsuit of cuisines around the world! This is ridiculous, but I prefer this kind of conflict over the one with guns.

that explains why the lebanese dudes are always so chubby. They are eating way too much humus, which aside from chickpeas, also has a boatload of margarine added. I won't say its not healthy, because I am not a doctor, but it for sure it not a diet food.

....and their Hummus!

Who care who invented Hummus first. It is a fabulous food whether made by Lebanese or Israelis. Cuisine is to be shared and enjoyed by all cultures. Leave the politics out of cuisine. This kind of argument is just plain STUPID!

I once gave my child's neighborhood playmates a mid morning snack of bananas, walnuts and honey wrapped in Lebanese bread. An ignorant mother of one of the children yelled at her child, "what are you doing eating that stuff, that's Arab food." Real Lebanese food is very popular in Australia. Ask anyone they, will tell you, hummus is Lebanese! Why do Israelis have to claim hummus as their original recipe? What about all those lovely Russian food recipes... ; )

try this brand if you can find it. I am pretty sure it is made in Jordan.

The Jews who eventually found their way to Brooklyn were opening up hummus and falafil shops in the 20th century? No, they were opening up delis. Plus you said it perfect, the minority of Jews who were in Arab countries, key word ARAB countries took those traditions. The Jews in Europe were opening up falafil stands too? You are funny.

If the only problem left between Israel and Lebanon is who invented hummus...

What a coincidence? As we were eating hummus as an appetizer yesterday, I wondered aloud who really invented this chickpea spread as today there are different styles of hummus. But I did predict that it was probably a Lebanese invention. But there's nothing wrong with Israelis, and now, Diaspora Jews, enjoying this Middle Eastern cuisine dish. It's just like pizza marketed everywhere and eaten around the world.....if only these were our toughest issues!

..but you can live on chicken Soup.

The first documented use of chick-pees to make humus in the middle-east, is from the age of the crusaders. What few people know is that humus was also mentioned in the old testament. On the first time Ruth and Boaz had met in Bethlehem, he offered her some humus: ?And at meal-time Boaz said unto her, Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar? (Ruth 2-14). This is a mistranslation of course. The original word in ancient Hebrew, is ?Hometz?. Which not only sounds a bit like ?Humus?, but also resembles the word ?Himtza?. The Hebrew name of chick-pees. True, ?Hometz? in modern Hebrew is vinegar. But you don?t really think Boaz was so rude as to offer Ruth to dip her bread in vinegar, do you? Got to admit it?s more reasonable to think it was Humus (the credit for this idea belongs to the Israeli writer Meir Shalev).

I have eaten humus all over the world but the recipe of Abu Shukri's humus in the Christian Quarter of the Old City is the best so far. I feel that Abu Shukri's family may have invented humus, not the Israelis and nor the Lebanese. Lebanese humus is not delicious, and Israeli humus is terrible. I hope Jewish settlers will not try to disturb the peace of humus in Jerusalem and beyond.

It's bad enough Israel continues to steal Palestinian and other Arab lands. Hummus is an Arab dish, not an Israeli one. You see we been eating hummus for centuries while your people as the majority were not living in Palestine were good at making motza balls and deli sandwiches.

"Our ancestors lived in these lands for over 2,000 years & BEFORE the Arab-Islamic conquest by at least 1,000 years" so u were living in harmony till israel existed?

is still a Yorkshire dish. Welsh Rarebit eaten in Moscow is still Welsh and Haggis eaten anywhere on the globe is still very much Scottish!

I remember reading about a case where there was a lawsuit on whether to call it Armenian delight or Turkish delight (I think a Turk sued for the monopoly). Politics has a lot to do with whether you call it Armenian coffee or Turkish coffee, etc.; the cultures are so intermixed that no one really knows who originated what.

Wow. What an exciting thing to get all riled about. Wake me up after they get laughed out of court.

The "show" once again shows how ridiculous all nationalist claims are! The Italians got the flat bread from Aramaic origins by Jewish immigrants calling it "pita", later "pizza" (sound shift). It came to Germany in the sixties, and now it's part of our cuisine. From the Turks we have got a kind of bread called "pide" which is not exactly the same although it is rather flat. Next to no one here gives a damn about it where the recipe is from. Thus be happy that "hummus" is a favorite food as well in Israel as in Lebanon - and defy nationalists who tend to stress the differences instead of the things in common.

Chicago has 16 sister cities; among them one in Jordan. I bought hummus made there at a summer fair here and it was good, better than the ones they make here. a la Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen), are we talking about Hamas or Hummus.

so how can we claim ownership? anyway i lived in the states and the most popular brand was sabra, a jewish israeli brand. it didnt taste good to me but coming from a merchant lebanese mindset, i think in order for lebanese to prove that we make it better cos it is from our heritage, we need to market our brands better so that we are no.1 fair and square. no need to resort to the courtroom. only to the boardroom. yalla!

boun apetit havivi?! what will that be in hebrew?

sense of hummus :) i like that.

Yeah, I would not recommend Sabra hummus, nor Sharon's! Try Kuntar.

Oh boo-hoo! We didn't steal anything. We just improved it! Close to 1 million Jews fled or were forced out of their homelands in Arab & Islamic countries. Our ancestors lived in these lands for over 2,000 years & BEFORE the Arab-Islamic conquest by at least 1,000 years. Our cuisine includes humus, taboulah, kubbe, m7asha, timman bagila, kofteh, bamia shwarma, Ja7nun, couscous. Jews have been cooking and eating these foods for as long as they've lived in the Middle-East. And after all the anti-Jewish riots, anti-semitism, pogroms, liquidation of assets, nationalization of private properties & businesses, revocation of citizenships, mass arrests, accusations of "zionism", wrongful imprisonment & torture, extra-judicial killings, our ancient communities fled or were forced to leave. They went to Israel, Canada, U.S, Europe. Wherever they went, they carried with them THEIR traditions, THEIR culture, THEIR foods and their mixed memories (good & bad). It is as much ours as it yours. Salam

...as long as you don't try to kill us.

That Israelis make and eat chummus, tahina and felafel should have a pretty low priority for a country that has lost it's independence to Syria and Iran.

No matter how the Mideast culinary battle plays out, we all have to concede that the Lebanese have quite a sense of hummus, yak! yak! yak!

Hummus began in the MidEast, as did Jews, Christians, Muslims, Israel, Lebanon and so on. So saying that hummus is exclusively Lebanese, Israeli or of any other particular MidEast nation is quite a stupid assertion.

but I'm always extra careful to make sure the hummus I buy doesn't have a brand name like "Sabra"

If you are an Israeli now, then we kicked you again out of Lebanon.

Israeli Hummus is noticeably different from Lebanese Hummus. You cannot trademark a name after it's been in common use for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. Get over it!

Must they fight and bicker over every little thing?

This humble bean is all over the Mediteranean, and people eat them in different ways. Heck, for some reason they grow in Eastern Europe and at the Friday nights before a Brit Milah, they cook them "as is" and call them Arbes. Then too, being round, in Italian slang they resemble a certain female body part. Yeah, the Hungarian-Italian parliament member, famous for exhibiting her . . . was called Cicolina, on account of their robustness. Like Jouha, the jokester who appears in the folklore of most Mediteranean and Balkan culture, Hummus, ground, or otherwise belongs to everybody in this neighborhood.

1. For those that like to eat hummus and falafel more than carrying on some esoteric projection of nationalism, we can note that there is a variety of hummus and falafel. I do not like Egyptian falafel, I love Jordanian, Lebanese and Syrian falafel. I love Jewish Israeli falafel and hummus, but Sa'id's hummus in the Arab corridor of Old Akko is better than any I've had in Israel. Does that make me a traitor? No, I just know good hummus. 2. Israeli companies have a right to market Israeli made products as they please. If consumers deem Israeli hummus a better buy then good marketing on their part. Oh, BTW Lebanese hummus companies will market their hummus as Israeli if it sells better. That's called business sense. 3. Even if I go to a kosher falafel/shwarma stand, I say Middle Eastern food not Israeli and most people I know say the same, so what is all this fuss about anyway.

boun apetit havivi

then it is not authentic.

I've eaten both Israeli humous and Lebanese humous, and frankly, it's all disgusting and nothing to be proud of.

Chinese, and Hummus made in Kenya is Kenyan. Who cares from who it comes from? as long as it tastes good, I'll buy from the ones that taste the best. For now, Israel has been beating all the previous ones I've tasted so far.

Lebanon used to have a vibrant Jewish community until we fled the violence directed at us. Many of us fled to Israel taking our cuisine with us.

Let the be proud of their hummus while we"ll develop satellites, medicines and telecommunication!!

Why don`t they get 400 Chefs? A genuine record, should be granted only if made by one person, Or if you like, made in one giant bowl, no matter how many Chefs you want to use, And yes, Let the Humus be eatable at the end, If not give it to Nasrallah!

Authentic Israeli hummus -- just like mama used to make in Poland. :) Please concede ownership of hummus to the Lebanese. Israelis can claim ownership of gefilte fish.

if you cant beat israel on the battlefield, perhaps the food industry is a better option.

yeh yeh yeh, not only hummous is not israeli so FALAFEL and also full ( foul) and tehina and so many other dishes that were all made by the arab countries in the middle east the koubbe and so many others having many immigrants israel has adopted the middle east dishes and exported then for being stronger and more travellers with more international support thus, calling the "dishes" israeli food.... what to do ? this is israeli way this is colonialistic ways... maybe not pizza all knew was italian

It would be nice to get Nasrallah involved in these sorts of activities. How about making Nachos, "Nassrallah's Nachos" is catchy.

forget all the rest :)

wow, they deserve a Nobel prize!

Where does it stop? Stop taking our food and our land.