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Hummus

Hummus with olive oil, lemon juice, cumin and za'atar (with sumac)
Course	Meze
Place of origin	Levant
Serving temperature	Cold
Main ingredients	chickpeas, olive oil
Cookbook: Hummus   Media: Hummus

Hummus (a transliteration of the Template:Lang-ar; also spelled hamos, houmous, hommos, hommus, hummos or hummous; see romanization of Arabic) is a Levantine Arab dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a popular food throughout the Middle East.

Etymology

The word comes from Template:Lang-arḥummuṣ 'chickpeas'. Like other Arabic loanwords, its spelling in English is inconsistent. The earliest use of the word hummus in English noted by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) was in 1955. Among the common spellings for this word as transliterated into English are hummus, hommos and hoummos. The spelling humus is avoided in English due to its having the same spelling as another English word, though this is the most common Turkish spelling and the OED indicates the word entered the English language from Turkish. The full Arabic name of the prepared spread is حُمُّص بطحينة (ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna) which means chickpeas with tahina.

Hummus is an arabic dish

Nutritional information

Hummus is high in iron and vitamin C, and also has significant amounts of folate and vitamin B6. The chickpeas make it a good source of protein and dietary fiber; the tahini consists mostly of sesame seeds, which are an excellent source of the amino acid methionine, complementing the proteins in the chickpeas. Depending on the recipe, hummus carries varying amounts of monounsaturated fat. Hummus is useful in vegetarian and vegan diets and like other combinations of grains and pulses, when eaten with bread it serves as a complete protein.

Serving methods

As an appetizer and dip, hummus is scooped with flatbread (such as pita). It is also served as part of a meze or as an accompaniment to falafel, grilled chicken, fish or eggplant. Garnishes include chopped tomato, cucumber, cilantro, parsley, caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, whole chickpeas, olive oil, hard-boiled eggs, paprika, ful, olives and pickles. Outside the Middle East, it is sometimes served with tortilla chips or crackers.

Hummus ful (pronounced /fuːl/) is topped with a paste made from fava beans boiled until soft and then crushed. Hummus masubha/mashawsha is a mixture of hummus paste, warm chickpeas and tahini.

In Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East, Arto der Haroutunian calls hummus "one of the most popular and best-known of all Syrian dishes" and "a must on any mezzeh table." Syrians in Canada's Arab diaspora prepare and consume hummus along with other dishes like falafel, kibbe and tabouleh, even among the third and fourth-generation offspring of the original immigrants.

For Palestinians, hummus has long been a staple food, garnished with olive oil and "nana" mint leaves, paprika, parsley or cumin. A related dish popular in the region of Palestine and Jordan is laban ma' hummus ("yogurt and chickpeas"), which uses yogurt in the place of tahini and butter in the place of olive oil. The chickpeas are first boiled alone before the other ingredients are added and it is served hot.

Hummus is a common part of everyday meals in Israel. Commenting on its popularity, Gil Hovav, an Israeli food editor interviewed on the BBC program Cooking in the Danger Zone, stated that "even during the intifada years Jews would sneak into the Muslim quarter just to have a vital, really genuine good humous," and noted that like many dishes considered to be Israeli national foods, hummus is actually Arab. However, he also said, commenting on Iraqi, Egyptian, Syrian or Yemeni food in Israel, that "Jews came from these countries to Israel and they brought their food with them". Many restaurants run by Mizrahi Jews and Arab citizens of Israel are dedicated to hot hummus, which may be served as chick peas softened with baking soda along with garlic, olive oil, cumin and tahini. One of the fancier traditional hummus versions available is hummus masabacha, made with lemon-spiked tahini garnished with whole chick peas, a sprinkling of paprika and a drizzle of olive oil. Hummus is sold in restaurants, supermarkets and hummus-only shops (known in Hebrew as humusiot).

In January 2010, the Israeli-Arab village of Abu Ghosh secured the Guinness World Record for the largest dish of hummus in the world. Jawadat Ibrahim, owner of a nationally popular Abu Ghosh hummus restaurant, organized the event, which brought together 50 Jewish and Israeli-Arab chefs who cooked. The winning 20 foot dish weighed 4,087.5 kilograms (8992.5 pounds), about twice as much as the previous record set by Lebanon in October 2009.

Packaged product

In November 2009, Gadi Lesin, President & CEO of the Israeli Strauss group food manufacturer revealed that market share of co-owned Sabra Dipping Company reached 40% in the United States making it the largest hummus dip manufacturer in the world.

Controversy

In October 2008 the Association of Lebanese Industrialists petitioned to the Lebanese ministry of Economy to request protected status from the European Commission for hummus as a uniquely Lebanese food, similar to the Protected Geographical Status rights held over regional food items by various European Union countries. Fadi Abboud (president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association), stated that "Israelis have usurped several Lebanese and oriental products",. As a response, food critic Janna Gur wrote: "The success of certain brands of Israeli hummus abroad may have been what brought about Abboud's anger", leading him to claim that Israel has been "stealing" their country's national dishes, like hummus, falafel, tabbouleh and baba ghanouj. Shooky Galili (an Israeli journalist specialising in food who writes a blog dedicated to hummus), claimed in reply that “Hummus doesn’t belong to the country that invented it, but the people who love it”.

See also

• Ful and Hummus

References

1. Sami Zubaida, "National, Communal and Global Dimensions in Middle Eastern Food Cultures" in Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper, A Taste of Thyme: Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, London and New York, 1994 and 2000, ISBN 1-86064-603-4, p. 35.
2. ^ Pam Peters (2007), The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage, Cambridge University Press, p. 370, ISBN 0521878217 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1= and |unused_data= (help)
3. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (Second Edition) CD-ROM Version 3.1.1 (2007), Oxford, Oxford University Press
4. Bricklin, 1994, p. 115.
5. Hummus NutritionData.com
6. Arto der Hartoiunian Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East, London 1983, p.33.
7. Paul R. Magocsi (1999), Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples, University of Toronto Press, pp. p. 1244, ISBN 0802029388 {{citation}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
8. Ibrahim, Lailie, Institute for Middle East Understanding, Hummus, a Palestinian staple, 31 March 2006, retrieved 9 March 2008.
9. Salloum and Peters, 1996, p. 204.
10. Even mentioned by the Israel Defense Force Cookbook, see Houston Chronicle "Diversity in the dining room helps ring in Israel's new year"
11. BBC Cooking in the Danger Zone: Israel and Palestinian Territories, pp. 5-6: "Humous is Arabic. Falafel, our national dish, our national Israeli dish, is completely Arabic and this salad that we call an Israeli Salad, actually it's an Arab salad, Palestinian salad."
12. Cooking in the Danger Zone: Israel and Palestinian Territories, page 3
13. Food & Wine, May 2008; On the Hummus Hunt in Israel by Jen Murphy, p. 66,
14. "Abu Gosh mashes up world's largest hummus". YNet. AFP. 8 January 2010.
15. "Abu Ghosh secures Guinness world record for largest dish of hummus". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
16. Jack Brockbank (12 January 2010). "The largest serving of hummus". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
17. זינוק במכירות חומוס שטראוס בארה"ב: כבשה 40% מהשוק, Globes, 25 November 2009, retrieved 25 November 2009Template:He icon
18. Karam, Zeina, "Hummus war looms between Lebanon and Israel", Associated Press, 7 October 2008, retrieved 10 December 2008.
19. Carolynne Wheeler (11 Oct 2008), "Hummus food fight between Lebanon and Israel", The Daily Telegraph
20. "Whose hummus is it anyway?", The Times of South Africa, Nov 09, 2008 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
21. Gur, Janna (cited as 'Jana'), Santa Fe New Mexican, "Hummus History: Tales of a Wandering Chickpea", 21 October 2008, retrieved 11 December 2008
22. Lebanon aims for Guinness records as part of bid to lay claim to hummus, tabouleh

Bibliography

• Afzal-Khan, Fawzia; Seshadri-Crooks, Kalpana (2000), The Pre-occupation of Postcolonial Studies, Duke University Press, ISBN 0822325217, 9780822325215 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
• Amster, Linda; Sheraton, Mimi (2003), The New York Times Jewish Cookbook: More Than 825 Traditional and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World, St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0312290934, 9780312290931 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
• Bricklin, Mark (1994), Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor: The Ultimate Guide to the Health-Boosting and Health-Harming Factors in Your Diet, Rodale, ISBN 0875962254, 9780875962252 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• Brothwell, C. D.; Brothwell, B. (1998), Food in Antiquity: A survey of the Diet of Early Peoples, Expanded Edition, John Hopkins University, ISBN 0801857406 {{citation}}: More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
• Rodinson, Maxime; Perry, Charles (1998), Medieval Arab Cookery, Prospect Books (UK), ISBN 0907325912, 978-0907325918 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
• Salloum, Habeeb; Peters, James (1996), From the Lands of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes, I.B.Tauris, ISBN 1860640389 {{citation}}: More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
• Tannahill, Reay (1973), Food in History, Stein and Day, ISBN 0517571862

• Arab cuisine
• Arabic loanwords
• Levantine cuisine
• Mediterranean cuisine
• Middle Eastern cuisine
• Appetizers
• Dips
• Spreads
• Legume dishes
• Vegan cuisine
• Condiments