Hummus in Tel-Aviv

The hummus really has to be great in order to be the center of a complete meal. But when it is, and when accompanied with a few other local treasures, it makes some gourmet dishes taste like fast-food.

The residents of Tel-Aviv could always go for their hummus to Jaffa, which is minutes away by car. They still do, and some of them would go for their beloved hummus as far as Old Jerusalem or the old city of Acre, but it sometimes nice your hummus place just around the corner, and in recent years there are many options.

Tel-Aviv is my home town and I have many superb pictures of it’s hummus and hummus places, which I’ll probebly show in future posts. This time I wanted to show this one and say a few things about it:

hummus-ful with falafel and chips

Though not very common in this particular presentation, the combination of hummus or in this case hummus-foul (click for the recipe), falafel (ditto) and potato chips is mandatory in most hummus places in Israel today, especially in Tel-Aviv.

With a bunch of luscious pitas a nice salad on the side, and a cold drink, it’s a hit - a perfectly tasteful and nutritios meal, which in this case (Beit Ha-hummus, 119 Hashmonaim st.) costs as little as 24 NIS ($6.70 / 4.2 euro). You can usually have these with a nice piece of grilled meat of some kind, but you don’t really have to.

March 23, 2008 | Filed Under Humus worldwide | 5 Comments 

The Hummus Diet: cause it works mate!

Yes, it sounds crazy, but you can eat hummus and actually get thin. Just don’t eat too much of them pita breads.

A friend of my parents (who’s a medical doctor, by the way) tried the Blood Type Diet a few years back. According to the theory, he was supposed to eat lots of proteins and very little carbohydrates if any. It didn’t go so well with meat so he tried hummus, and soon lost 16 kg (20 pounds).

It should come as no surprise to you if you know a bit about hummus. I already discussed the nutritional virtues of hummus in prior posts so I won’t go into too much details this time, but the fact is that hummus is really good for you. In every aspect.

Not only is it highly nutritional (as long as it’s made from dried chickpeas, not canned ones), but it’s also good for your metal health, and if it’s made properly (ok, recipe) than it should not make you heavy at all - just satiated for a few hours. Read more

March 16, 2008 | Filed Under Falafel & Pita, Health & Diet, chickpeas, Hummus | Leave a Comment 

Rescued by Hummus

I had one of my molar tooth yanked last Tuesday. A very nasty experience, I can tell you. In fact, it was so horrible that I bravely decided not to go into the details.

Anyhow, as I sat at home a few hours later, swollen and sad and very much in pain, I realized I’m pretty hungry. I already followed the common advice for such situations and ate a bucket of ice-cream, but ice-cream can hardly be called food.

Knowing that I can’t really bite anything, and I shouldn’t eat anything hot (such as soup), I dragged myself to a local hummus place and asked for hummus-meshawsha. Read more

March 8, 2008 | Filed Under Hummus | 1 Comment 

Hummus-Ful: Simplicity of Delicacy

The second most common variety of hummus based dish, after the basic hummus-bi-tahini (regular hummus), is the Hummus-Ful combination. A delicious, beautiful and nutritionally perfect combination, which millions eat every day.

Hummus (chickpeas) and Ful (fava beans) is kind of a Yin-Yang combination. They complement each other perfectly in taste, texture and even color. Read more

March 1, 2008 | Filed Under Health & Diet, The Recipes, Humus worldwide | 1 Comment