Hummus: is it Israeli or Arab?
Most Israelis, and many people around the world, believe hummus to be an Israeli dish. On the other hand, when they want to eat good hummus, most Israelis will go to an Arab hummus place. So how invented it? Who does hummus belong to?
If you’d tell a Syrian, a Palestinian or an Israeli Arab, that hummus is an Israeli dish, they will probably laugh at your face. Hummus is eaten all over the middle-east, and is a part of the traditional Arab kitchen. There’s no way it was brought here by European Jews…
This does sound reasonable, although chickpeas are known to man for at least 9000 years. The Greeks loved it and the Romans made various dishes with it. Technically, the first documented use of chickpeas to make hummus is from the time of the crusaders, and it took place in ancient Israel.
True, the use of chickpeas to make a traditional dish called “Hamitz” was mentioned in the Talmud, some 700 years earlier.
There’s even a theory dating hummus invention around 1000BC, claiming it was mentioned in the bible. Also, there’s a good chance that modern pita bread is a late Israeli invention, since it’s hollowed, and this requires the use of modern ovens, a technology probably brought from Europe.
On the other hand - these are merely speculations. The simple fact is that hummus is an authentic member of the Arab kitchen, and has been so for at least the last few centuries - and maybe long before that.
But does all that really matter?
Hummus is only one of many dishes in the traditional Palestinian cuisine. Yet, this is the main dish that Israelis and Palestinians eat together, because the two peoples love it equally. So it is accurate to say that hummus is in the heart of a shared food culture, which is beyond nationality and politics, and this is how it should be kept IMHO.
I say: may the hummus flourish regardless of who makes it and who eats it - and who the hell cares who made it first. Lets not argue about it’s origin. Better to make it one of the things we do agree upon.
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20 Responses to “Hummus: is it Israeli or Arab?”
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Every time that peace talks with Syria are mentioned, reporters fantasize about eating Hummus in Damascus. Well, one day…
The best hummus foul I had was in East Jerusalem and it rather upset me when the “mehumot” started cause I wanted my hummus!
Great blog
Excuse my ignorance but what exactly is “palestinian” cuisine? Is it the thing that was called “syrian cuisine” or “jewish cuisine” before the six day war (i.e. when modern palestinians were invented).
Dear de Vries,
It is not within this blog mandate to make decisions about other peoples nationalities. Although historically, the Palestinians “invented” themselves in the 1920’s not the 1960’s. But does is really matter? Aren’t they entitled to decide for their own?
Anyhow, the Palestinian cuisine is not identical either to the Syrian nor to the Jewish cuisine. There are traditional dishes eaten by Palestinians which you don’t find in neighboring countries. It is somewhat similar but hardly identical to the Jewish-Israeli food my family, who lived in Israel for the last 7 generations now, is eating.
I came to this blog with 2 stones and a knife to finish the author of that horrible article that was published on Ynet… but it seems based on your last post, reply to de Vries, that it was a to harsh move and I decided to visit again… at least you know that Palestinian is not identical to the Lebanese and Syrian, Egyptian and Jordanian cuisines.
Dear Andre,
The article on ynetnews was based upon a Hebrew version which was translated with some changes to be suitable for the sites’ typical audience. I’m sorry you didn’t like it and it’s good to know you felt better about what you found here.
We have no interest in making a political issue out of hummus. We really want to make this a peaceful community for all hummus lovers (read our declaration in the about page).
No axe to grind about politics at all, but your main argument against humous being Israeli was “There’s no way it was brought here by European Jews” is plain silly. There were Jews in Israel *way* before any started coming from Eastern Europe, and since chick peas aren’t so common there, there isn’t even any reason to suppose that it would have been the Eastern European Jews who brought it. If it is Israeli (and I have no idea, nor much interest, I just eat the stuff!), then it would have come from Israeli Jews, resident in Israel many centuries ago, not from Eastern European ones.
Dear Fred,
Whats real silly is you trying to teach middle-east history to me, especially the part about Jews being here for centuries. That’s because:
a. I live here, I went to school, I learned history and I know the history of my own region very well.
b. I’m 7th generation in Israel. My ancestors came here about 200 years ago.
The Actual truth is that until the 20th century the land of Israel was almost deserted. Most of the people who are arguing about this place are descendant of people who came here in the past 80 years. But it is also true that for about 1300 years, there where more Arabs than Jews here. This does not mean anything in terms of who does the land belongs to, of course.
You gotta remember that both Arabs and Jews (in the Middle East) were for a long time ruled by the Ottoman Empire. Whatever group first had chumus, it was probably spread to various places by the Ottoman Turks.
One thing I can’t stand is when English speakers pronounce it identical to huh-miss : the first syllable being pronounced “huh” as is in “what’d you say?”; the second syllabel, “miss”, as in “polite way of addressing an unmarried woman.” . I’ve heard speakers of three Middle Eastern languages (Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish) pronounce it and none of them say anything near to huh-miss. As a Jew, I prefer the Hebrew pronunciation, but if you’re from a traditional chumus eating culture, use that languages pronunciation. If you’re not, please refer to it as the locals. For English speakers, the Turkish pronunciation is probably the easiest (not to mention, they also use the Roman Alphabet): humus. Pronounced who (question word referring to person) moose (large animal related to deer).
Enough complaining. With that said, I personally think that the Lebanese have the best. They make a big indentation in the middle and fill it will olive oil and lemon juice
From Humus will come peace.
[…] hummus and other middle-eastern foods to political disputes. You can read all about it in my post Hummus, is it Israeli or Arab. But I can’t help commenting on this piece, a column by George S. Hishmeh titled ” The […]
Israeli’s have no culture. The Israeli’s are stealing the Palestinian culture and lands including the food. But the truth is, Israeli’s are trying to create a culture for themselves that never existed.
the Israeli’s invaded Palestine and came to Palestine from Europe.
Sorry but hummus is a very Arabic middle eastern dish and everyone knows that.
John - what you say is interesting. And what about Sepharadic Jews, who lived in Arab countries until the state of Israel was formed - are they from Europe as well?
Hummus, falafel, tabouleh, baba ghanouj, etc. are all Arabic foods. Yes Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews like Moroccan, Tunisian, Iraqi, Yemeni Jews etc. eat those same foods because they lived in Middle Eastern countries and lived among the Arabs. So when they came to Israel, they brought that culture with them along with the cuisine. Same with other Eastern Jews, what about Israeli Persian Jews? They eat Persian cuisine, does that mean that certain Persian foods like ghormeh sabzi for example can be now considered Israeli just because Persian Jews eat it? Or because Persians Jews were living in the Middle East for so long does that mean that the credit for Persian cuisine immediately goes to them?
Nadia -
I already explained why I think this discussion is pointless.
But since you seem to have that interest in the origins of these foods, feel free to read the sources I referred in this post and others, as well as the proper entries in any Encyclopedia (hummus, falafel, tahini etc.).
Since the occupation by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, the of the middle-east is mostly populated by Muslim Arabs. Of course, this isn’t the first time the region was concurred by Arab armies. It first happened in the 7th century, than several other times during the middle ages. You can read about it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Middle_East#The_Arab_Middle_East
As far as historians and archeologists can tell, Hummus was first eaten by the Crusaders, falafel by the Copts and tahini comes from east Africa. They where all brought and eaten all around the middle-east at least since the middle ages, which was a time when the region was ethnically and religiously heterogeneous.
So the culture of the region, including the it’s culinarity, has many roots - including those of the people from which the Arab occupiers occupied these places - because if they were empty you wouldn’t need armies to take it by force.
hummus is`arabic, the word hummus is chickpea in arabic….isrealis took our land and now they want to take our food?
Dana - you seems like you didn’t bother to read the post. BTW, “hummus” is the name of chickpeas in Hebrew too.
dear shooky
it seems that you are struggiling , it is good to know all about hommus tahina falafel and everything else, plus it is fantastic to know peaple and be as freindly as you could, yet differences in openions are not suppose to be fighting base, weather hummus is arabic or hebrew, chickpeas english or chinees i do not care, all i care a bout is to make a good tahina, to satisfy good peaple like you,
i am proude of being palestenian but i can be a freind to anyone and respect every nationality on earth, we have been in the occupation now for about fifty years, we live a terripple live compairing to many other countries, but i know who to plame for this,
the bottom line is love life life loves you.
love hommus i will make you the best tahina
thanking you all a rround
I agree with the comment from Yochanan on July 18th, Americans are notorius for mispronouncing words from other cultures then adapting the mispronounced word into the “English” language - Americans even mispronounce English (from England) words, then insist people from England speak with an “accent.”
Another food that is even more mispronounced is tabouleh. How did they come up with the pronunciation “lee” from the letters l-e-h?
You are just too funny when you mention that a discussion is pointless about where hummus originated from. Without caring about the chickpea in general or how people used to eat it once upon the time or the way it was mentioned in the talmud, the hummus you eat origin from arabs. This certain meal was created by arabs and what kind of damn discussion are you talking about. Nothing to be discussed, PERIOD… Pasta is from italy, no one claims anything different because other people used the same ingredients to create a different dish. Im also suprised that nobody mention Lebanon. Hummus is very often attributed to Lebanon,. where the best hummus in the world is and everybody knows it.