Hummus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not to be confused with Humus.
Hummus
Meze
Hummus from The Nile.jpg
Hummus with olive oil
Place of origin:
Egypt, Levant
Serving temperature:
Cold
Main ingredient(s):
Chickpeas, tahini
Recipes at Wikibooks:
Cookbook Hummus
Media at Wikimedia Commons:
Wikimedia Commons  Hummus
Hummus (Arabic: حُمُّص‎) is a Middle Eastern and Arabic food dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.[1] Today, it is popular throughout the Middle East (including Turkey), North Africa (including Morocco), and in Middle Eastern cuisine around the globe.

Etymology

Hummus is an Arabic word (حمّص ḥummuṣ) meaning "chickpeas," and the complete name of the prepared spread in Arabic is حمّص بطحينة ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna, which means "chickpeas with tahini".[2][3] Spellings of the word in English can be inconsistent.[4] "Houmous" is the standard spelling in British English. Among other spellings are hummus, hummous, hommos, humos, hommus and hoummos.[citation needed]

History

Hummus
Many cuisine-related sources describe hummus as an ancient food,[5][6][7] or connect it to famous historical figures such as Saladin.[8] Indeed, its basic ingredients—chickpeas, sesame, lemon, and garlic—have been eaten in the region for millennia.[9][10]
But in fact, there is no specific evidence for this purported ancient history of hummus bi tahina.[11] Though chickpeas were widely eaten in the region, and they were often cooked in stews and other hot dishes,[12] puréed chickpeas eaten cold with tahini do not appear before the Abbasid period in Egypt and the Levant.[13]
The earliest known recipes for a dish similar to hummus bi tahina are recorded in cookbooks published in Cairo in the 13th century.[14] A cold purée of chickpeas with vinegar and pickled lemons with herbs, spices, and oil, but no tahini or garlic, appears in the Kitāb al-Wusla ilā l-habīb fī wasf al-tayyibāt wa-l-tīb;[13] and a purée of chickpeas and tahini called hummus kasa appears in the Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada: it is based on puréed chickpeas and tahini, and acidulated with vinegar (though not lemon), but it also contains many spices, herbs, and nuts, and no garlic. It is also served by rolling it out and letting it sit overnight,[15] which presumably gives it a very different texture from hummus bi tahina.

Nutritional information

Hummus, commercial
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 695 kJ (166 kcal)
Carbohydrates 14.3
Fat 9.6
Protein 7.9
Percentages are roughly approximated
using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient Database
Hummus is high in iron and vitamin C and also has significant amounts of folate and vitamin B6.[16] The chickpeas are 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.[17] Hummus is useful in vegetarian and vegan diets; like other combinations of grains and pulses, it serves as a complete protein when eaten with bread.

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, coriander, parsley, caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, whole chickpeas, olive oil, hard-boiled eggs, paprika, sumac, ful, olives, pickles and pine nuts (as photographed in the "History" section). Outside the Middle East, it is sometimes served with tortilla chips or crackers.
Hummus ful (pronounced [ˈfuːl]) 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.

Syria and Lebanon

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."[18] 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.[19]
Hummus topped with whole chickpeas and olive oil.

Israel

Hummus topped with ful and tehina
Hummus is a common part of everyday meals in Israel.[20] A significant reason for the popularity of hummus in Israel is the fact that it is made from ingredients that, following Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), can be combined with both meat and dairy meals. Few other foods can be combined with a wide variety of meals consistently with the dietary laws.[21] It is seen as almost equally popular amongst Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs.[21] As a result of its popularity, Israelis elevated hummus to become a "national food symbol" and consume more than twice as much hummus as neighbouring Arab countries, according to figures by Tsabar Salads, a hummus manufacturer in Israel.[22] 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 [sic]," and noted that like many dishes considered to be Israeli national foods, hummus is actually Arab.[23] 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".[24] 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 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.[25] Hummus is sold in restaurants, supermarkets and hummus-only shops (known in Hebrew as humusiot).[26]

Palestine and Jordan

For Palestinians and Jordanians, hummus has long been a staple food, often served warm, with bread, for breakfast, lunch or dinner - usually on Friday mornings.[27] All of the ingredients in hummus are easily found in Palestinian gardens, farms and markets, thus adding to the availability and popularity of the dish. In Palestinian areas, hummus is usually garnished, with olive oil, "nana" mint leaves, paprika, parsley or cumin.[28] 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 and is topped with pieces of toasted bread.[27]

Packaged product

United States

By the end of the 20th century, hummus had emerged as part of the American culinary fabric.[29] In 2008, more than 15 million Americans consumed hummus on a regular basis.[29] Hummus became a popular staple in American restaurants with the Armenian migration from Lebanon to Southern California and the East Coast after the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990).[30][not in citation given] It was further popularized in the United States by Jews returning from visits in Israel and by Israeli expatriates.[29]
According to a 2010 market research, hummus consumption in the United States has increased by 35 percent over a period of 21 months, with sales reaching nearly $300 million. In 2006, hummus was present in 12 percent of American households, rising to 17 percent by early 2009.[31] One commentator attributed the growth of Hummus to America’s embrace of ethnic foods, and to experimentation with exotic foods.[31]
In November 2009, Gadi Lesin, President & CEO of the Israeli Strauss group food manufacturer said that market share of co-owned Sabra Dipping Company in the USA makes it the largest packaged hummus dip manufacturer in the world.[32]

Controversy

Lebanese produced hummus in a can, sold in Sweden.
In October 2008, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists petitioned to the Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade 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.[33][34][35]
Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association, stated that "Israelis have usurped several Lebanese and oriental products".[36] According to Abboud, Lebanon exported the first hummus dish in 1959.[37]
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.[38]
Also in response to Abboud's statement, Shooky Galili, an Israeli journalist specialising in food and who writes a blog dedicated to hummus,[39] said that "trying to make a copyright claim over hummus is like claiming for the rights to bread or wine. [...] Hummus is a centuries old Arab dish — nobody owns it, it belongs to the region".[40]
As of late 2009, the Lebanese Industrialists Association was still "preparing documents and proof" to support its claim.[41]

World record

In May 2010, the Guinness World Record for the largest dish of hummus in the world returned to Lebanon.[40][42] The winning dish, cooked by 300 cooks in the village of al-Fanar, near Beirut, weighed approximately 10450 kg (roughly 23000 lb), more than double the previous record set by 50 Israeli Arabs and Jews who cooked approximately 4100 kg (roughly 9000 lb) in January 2010 in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh.[43][44][45] According to local media, the recipe included eight tons of boiled chick peas, two tons of tahini, two tons of lemon juice and 70 kg (154 lb) of olive oil.[40]

See also

Portal icon Food portal
Portal icon Middle East portal

References

  1. Jump up ^ 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. Jump up ^ Maan Z. Madina, Arabic-English Dictionary of the Modern Literary Language, 1973, s.v. ح م ص
  3. Jump up ^ Newman, Joni Marie (2007), Cozy Inside, Lulu.com, p. 67, ISBN 1604028955, 9781604028959 Check |isbn= value (help)
  4. Jump up ^ Pam Peters (2007), The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage, Cambridge University Press, p. 370, ISBN 0-521-87821-7
  5. Jump up ^ mideastfood.about.com, Hummus 101, retrieved 28 February 2008
  6. Jump up ^ choice.com, More about hummus, "Hummus has existed for thousands of years." retrieved 5 May 2008
  7. Jump up ^ insidehookah.com Food - Hummus, "...it is evident that it’s been a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean favorite, and sometimes staple, for thousands of years." retrieved 5 May 2008
  8. Jump up ^ Percival, Jenny, Lebanon to sue Israel for marketing hummus as its own, guardian.co.uk, 7 October 2008, retrieved 9 November 2009
  9. Jump up ^ Tannahill p. 25, 61
  10. Jump up ^ Brothwell & Brothwell passim
  11. Jump up ^ http://www.straightdope.com, Who invented hummus?, 21 March 2001, "Hummus has been around for too long, in too many forms, and the origin is lost in antiquity... There's no way of knowing where it started...", retrieved 5 May 2008
  12. Jump up ^ e.g. a "simple dish" of meat, pulses and spices described by Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi in the 13th century, Tannahill p. 174
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Lilia Zaouali, Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, University of California Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-520-26174-7, translation of L'Islam a tavola (2004), p. 65
  14. Jump up ^ Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, John Wiley & Sons, 2010, By Gil Marks, page 270
  15. Jump up ^ Perry et al., p. 383
  16. Jump up ^ Bricklin, 1994, p. 115.
  17. Jump up ^ Hummus NutritionData.com
  18. Jump up ^ Arto der Hartoiunian Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East, London 1983, p.33.
  19. Jump up ^ Paul R. Magocsi (1999), Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples, University of Toronto Press, p. 1244, ISBN 0-8020-2938-8
  20. Jump up ^ Even mentioned by the Israel Defense Forces Cookbook, see Houston Chronicle "Diversity in the dining room helps ring in Israel's new year"
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b Middle East, 2006, Lonely Planet, page 282
  22. Jump up ^ Hummus brings Israelis, Palestinians to the table, The Christian Science Monitor, by Joshua Mitnick, July 25, 2007
  23. Jump up ^ 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."
  24. Jump up ^ Cooking in the Danger Zone: Israel and Palestinian Territories, page 3
  25. Jump up ^ Food & Wine, May 2008; On the Hummus Hunt in Israel by Jen Murphy, p. 66,
  26. Jump up ^ The perfect hummus debate
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b Salloum and Peters, 1996, p. 204.
  28. Jump up ^ Ibrahim, Lailie, Institute for Middle East Understanding, Hummus, a Palestinian staple, 31 March 2006, retrieved 9 March 2008.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b c Marks, Gil (2010), Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 269-271
  30. Jump up ^ John Powell, "Encyclopedia of North American Immigration", Infobase Publishing, 2005, ISBN 1-4381-1012-X, 9781438110127, p. 176.
  31. ^ Jump up to: a b There’s Hummus Among Us By Elena Ferretti, Fox News, April 05, 2010
  32. Jump up ^ Aviv Levy (25 November 2009), זינוק במכירות חומוס שטראוס בארה"ב: כבשה 40% מהשוק, Globes, retrieved 25 November 2009 Unknown parameter |unused_data= ignored (help)(Hebrew)
  33. Jump up ^ Karam, Zeina, "Hummus war looms between Lebanon and Israel", Associated Press, 7 October 2008, retrieved 10 December 2008.
  34. Jump up ^ Carolynne Wheeler (11 October 2008), "Hummus food fight between Lebanon and Israel", The Daily Telegraph
  35. Jump up ^ "Whose hummus is it anyway?", The Times of South Africa, November 9, 2008
  36. Jump up ^ http://www.ali.org.lb/foodcampaignarticles.html
  37. Jump up ^ YaLIBNAN. JANUARY 9, 2010 http://www.yalibnan.com/2010/01/09/hummus-war-between-lebanon-israel-escalates/ |url= missing title (help). Retrieved 4 July 2010.
  38. Jump up ^ Gur, Janna (cited as 'Jana'), Santa Fe New Mexican, "Hummus History: Tales of a Wandering Chickpea", 21 October 2008, retrieved 11 December 2008
  39. Jump up ^ http://humus101.com/EN
  40. ^ Jump up to: a b c Lebanon claims latest title in 'Hummus War' (CNN)
  41. Jump up ^ "Lebanese score in hummus war with Israel", Associated Press, 24 October 2009
  42. Jump up ^ "Lebanon breaks Israel's hummus world record". Yahoo. AP. 8 May 2010.
  43. Jump up ^ "Abu Gosh mashes up world's largest hummus". YNet. AFP. 8 January 2010.
  44. Jump up ^ "Abu Ghosh secures Guinness world record for largest dish of hummus". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 11 January 2010. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
  45. Jump up ^ Jack Brockbank (12 January 2010). "The largest serving of hummus". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 31 March 2010.

Bibliography

  • Edited by Fawzia Afzal-Khan and Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks, Fawzia; Seshadri-Crooks, Kalpana (2000), The Pre-occupation of Postcolonial Studies, Duke University Press, ISBN 9780822325215 More than one of |last1= and |author= specified (help)
  • Edited by Linda Amster; introduction by Mimi Sheraton, 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 9780312290931 More than one of |last1= and |author= specified (help)
  • Mark Bricklin,, Mark (1994), Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor: The Ultimate Guide to the Health-Boosting and Health-Harming Factors in Your Diet, Rodale, ISBN 9780875962252 More than one of |last1= and |author= specified (help)
  • Don Brothwell and Patricia Brothwell, C. D.; Brothwell, B. (1998), Food in Antiquity: A survey of the Diet of Early Peoples, Expanded Edition, Johns Hopkins University, ISBN 0-8018-5740-6 More than one of |last1= and |author= specified (help)
  • Marks, Gil (2010), Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 269–271
  • Charles Perry, A. J. Arberry, Maxime Rodinson,, Maxime; Perry, Charles (1998), Medieval Arab Cookery, Prospect Books (UK), ISBN 978-0907325918 More than one of |last1= and |author= specified (help)
  • Habeeb Salloum and James Peters ; drawings by Lynn Peterfreund ; photographs by Neal Cassidy., Habeeb; Peters, James (1996), From the Lands of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes, I.B.Tauris, ISBN 1-86064-038-9 More than one of |last1= and |author= specified (help)
  • Tannahill, Reay (1973), Food in History, Stein and Day, ISBN 0-517-57186-2

Further reading

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Cookbook:Hummus
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hummus.
Look up hummus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.