Oh no, not hummus too!
Filed under: A New Reality, Business, Food, General, Israeliness, Life
If there’s one thing that’s a constant in Israeli society, something that we all agree on, one topic we can all get together on, it’s hummus.
There may be milk or butter shortages to cows stressing out over the unseasonably warm weather, which as also caused outrageously priced tomatoes and peppers, and ugly looking apples, but we always knew that our national food – the delicious staple of creamy hummus – would be there.
Now, hummus manufacturers are warning that a legume shortage is leading to a shortage in hummus, which will likely lead to a price hike. According to Ynet, the legume shortage is also caused by the recent heatwaves combined with lack of rain
One of the hummus manufacturers, Moshe Kauftell, CEO and joint owner of Miki Delicatessen, said that a severe shortage in salad products is expected in the immediate future and there will be no alternative but to implement an immediate and considerable price hike on all products which are based on vegetables and legumes, like hummus and other vegetable based salads.
If the legume and vegetable crisis were to continue, it could even lead to production line closures and major salad shortages on store shelves said Kauftell. Kauftell claims that the finance and agriculture ministries are doing nothing to stem the crisis, and are refusing to decrease the taxes on imported vegetables in light of the industry’s condition.
Doing nothing? I say forget about the peace talks with the Palestinians. All of our ministers should be convening in marathon sessions to solve the hummus shortage.
The scenario if they don’t will make the intifada seem like child’s play. There’ll be rioting, families will be torn apart, there’ll be looting and hooliganism as far as the eye can see. And there will be problems even outside of the Knesset cafeteria.
It’s tough enough to live here without affordable hummus. Please don’t take that away from us too.
Hummus wars heats up northern border
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, Food, General, Israeliness, Life
Lebanese chefs prepare the record-breaking hummus. (Photo: Reuters)
For the second time in a year, Lebanon has wrested from Israel the Guinness World Record title of making the largest plate of hummus. Earlier this week, more than 300 Lebanese chefs spiced up a more than 23,000-pound plate of hummus, which more than doubled the Israeli record set in January in the Israeli Arab town of Abu Ghosh.
The chefs reportedly used 8 tons of boiled chickpeas, 2 tons of sesame paste, 2 tons of lemon juice and 154 pounds of olive oil for their hummus – an effort aimed at proving the claim that hummus is really a Lebanese dish that that Israel stole. Several years ago the Lebanese trade industry even considered filing a hummus lawsuit against Israel for claiming ownership.
While the traditional Middle Eastern dish made of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic does indeed likely have Arab origins, Israelis have adopted it as their own and have gone to great lengths to perfect it.
Abu Ghosh, where the Israeli record was set in January, breaking the then-Lebanese held record, is a magnet for hungry diners on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road, and boasts a dozen scrumptions hummus joints that prepare variations on the hummus theme, each one topping the other.
Israelis acknowledge that their Arab countrymen are the masters at preparing the dish. According to a recent survey in Haaretz, the top two most popular hummus restaurants in Israel were Arab-run bistros located in Jaffa and Acre.
The rivalry between Lebanon and Israel (good natured on Israel’s side and hopefully the same on the Lebanese side) has certainly raised the profile of the tasty paste, according one of Israel’s top hummus experts, Hummus 101 blogger Shuki Galili has pointed out.
“Owning hummus is like owning a folk song,” Galili told The Christian Science Monitor, meaning it now belongs to everybody. And ultimately, it doesn’t really matter where it originated, as long as people are still searching for the perfect hummus.
Will Israeli chefs now respond to the challenge and attempt to top the Lebanese world record? Stay tuned for the next chapter of the Hummus Wars.
Israel takes the upper hand in the ‘hummus wars’
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, Food, General, History and Culture, Life
They’re calling it the ‘Third Lebanon War’ but in this battle between Israel and its northern neighbor, there are bullets or rockets – just arguments about lemon and olive oil.
Who makes the best hummus – or at least the most hummus – Israel or Lebanon? As of Friday, the scale had shifted back toward Israel when over 50 Jewish and Arab chefs in the Israeli Arab village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem, successfully created the world’s largest plate of hummus weighing in at over four tons.
The ‘bowl’ which held the mixture of 2.5 tons of chickpeas, 1.5 of sesame paste, hundreds of freshly squeezed lemons and a vat of crushed garlic, was a satellite dish six meters in diameter donated by a nearby telecommunications company.
The hummus dish, which is now recognized by the Guinness Book of Records, shattered the standing record set by Lebanese chefs last year which tipped the scales at two tons.
It was natural that the record was broken in Abu Ghosh, where over a dozen hummus bistros attract customers like a magnet all hours of the day – if you’re going out for hummus in the Jerusalem area, there’s nowhere else to go. And on Friday, over 1,000 hummus enthusiasts turned out to see the hummus record broken.
The Abu Ghosh effort was spearheaded by restaurant owner Jawadat Ibrahim Ibrahim
Ibrahim who told CNN there is no doubt that hummus from his village is better than dip made in Lebanon.
“People actually call me from Lebanon on a regular basis just to say that their hummus is better,” Ibrahim told CNN. “If you live in the Middle East, before you’ve learnt to talk, you’ve learnt to love hummus – so I just want the world to know that mine is the best.”
“The reason I’m doing this is to draw attention to the fact that I make the best hummus in Abu Gosh, and Abu Gosh has the best hummus in the world! Of course, the Lebanese will tell you something different — but competition is healthy, there is no need to bring politics into this,” he said.
“My dream is that after this, we can set an even bigger world record by teaming up with the Lebanese. How about 10 tons?”
Future peace in the Middle East may be based on ‘memorandums of understandings’ and land withdrawals, but it will likely be cemented around a dining room table with an indescribably delicious creamy paste.
Picture of the week: I’ll have it on ice please
Filed under: Food, General, Picture of the Week, Pop Culture
I don’t really get the attraction myself, but since my kids first read the Guinness Book of Records, they’ve been planning various record-breaking attempts. Person to kneel on a fit ball longest – that’s one idea, or what about person to eat the most chocolate at one sitting (they haven’t reached the age when they realize how awful that suggestion actually is), or even person to make the biggest ball from elastic bands.
None of these seemingly ludicrous ideas are actually any more ridiculous than some of the record-breaking feats actually being carried out by people for the book itself.
Hence Israeli magician, Chezi Dean is now attempting to break the Guinness world record of staying in ice. Dean, who served as a magician for the IDF during his military service, hopes to break the record set by David Blaine, then 27, who encased himself in a block of ice for 58 hours, right in the center of Times Square.
Dean, wearing just trousers and a hat, entered the ice structure right in the heart of Tel Aviv on December 29th, and plans to leave the ice on New Year’s Eve – six hours longer than Blaine. Photo by Roni Schutzer/Flash90.
This isn’t the only record-breaking attempt going on at the moment. On January 8th, Juadat Ibrahim, owner of the Abu Gosh restaurant in Abu Gosh will be trying to break the world record for the biggest platter of hummus – a record that was just broken in October this year by Lebanon.
Then 250 chefs got together to create the dish using 2.976 pounds of chickpeas and 13,525 ounces of lemon juice. The final dish weighed in at more than two tons, beating the previous record, which was held by an Israeli company.
At Abu Gosh, the goal is to create a four-ton platter of hummus and some of the country’s best chefs will be on hand to do it. The event will be attended by government ministers, ambassadors and Jewish and Arab professionals, who will no doubt be feasting on hummus afterwards.
Hummus duels at 10 paces
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, Food, General
Lebanese chefs prepare their record-setting hummus - do you deliver to Jerusalem ? (Photo: Reuters)
With enough hummus to go around, you would think that the question of where the chickpea-derived spread originated would be a moot point. But our neighbors to the north – Lebanon – evidently haven’t taken too kindly to hummus being touted as an Israeli creation – in fact, an Israeli brand.
Businessmen in Beirut have even begun legal action to patent the dish as inherently Lebanese. And over the weekend, chefs gathered there to mix 3,000 lbs of mashed chickpeas, 88 gallons of lemon juice and 57lb of salt to break the Guiness Book of World Records, breaking the previous record set in Israel last year.
As a side dish, the Lebanese also prepared a 7,800 lb tabbouleh salad that included 3,520 lb of parsley, 3,300 lb of tomatoes and 924 lb of onions.
“Come and fight for your bite, you know you’re right!” was the slogan for the event — referring to the not-so-friendly rivalry between Lebanon and Israel over the ownership of the food.
“Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, its part of our traditions,” Fady Jreissati, vice president of operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event’s organizer, told the Associated Press.
“If we don’t tell Israel that enough is enough, and we don’t remind the world that it’s not true that hummus is an Israeli traditional dish, they (Israelis) will keep on marketing it as their own,” he said.
C’mon guys, isn’t there enough to bicker about in our region without dragging in the one thing that we all collectively love into the morass? How about a hummus taste-off pitting the five best Israeli hummus dishes versus the five best Lebanese? I’d volunteer to be a judge for that.
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