Q&A: Israeli vs. Lebanese Hummus

Is there a difference between the Israeli and Lebanese versions of hummus, and what the Syrians have to say about it. Also: a strongly recommended Syrian blog.

Question:
Randy asks: What are the main differences between Israeli style hummus and Lebanese style hummus?Answer:
I believe that in Lebanon the hummus is not as dominant as in

Israel, and is eaten more as a side dish there. In Israel, some hummus places (mostly Palestinians but few Israeli places too) had perfected the hummus into a dish that stands by itself.

Keep in mind, though, that there isn’t really such thing as Israeli hummus or Lebanese hummus. In

Israel alone you have dozens of different genres, and sometime the hummus served in one hummus place is completely different than the one across the street.

BTW, The Syrian hummus is also considered exquisite. Unfortunately, the political climate in the Middle-East does not allow Israelis like me to go to Lebanese and Syrian hummus places, a reality I do hope will change in the future.A recommended blog:
In the meantime, I strongly recommend AbuFares’s blog. This blogger is from the city of Tartous in Northern Syria, and he frequently writes (in a witty, fluent English) about Syrian food, and post beautiful pictures of it.

Abufares is not a great admire of Israel, to say the least (although I know many Israelis, including myself, who share most of his criticism on Israels actions, at least under the current administration). Ironically, much of the stuff he shows looks very familiar and nostalgic to me. My fathers family lived in the Galilee for the past 7 generations, and there are many similarities.

I especially like the post Msabbha: Breakfast of Champions. Among other things, Abufares talks about the Tartoussi tradition of eating Msabbha. In Friday mornings, a tradition me and some friends of mine share with them, apparently.

My favorite msabbha, which is also considered the best in Israel by many, is Abu Hassan’s, and so The Hummus Blog’s msabbha recipe is Abu Hassan style. But when in Jerusalem, I sometimes go to Hummus Lina in the old city, whose msabbha somewhat resembles the one in Abufares’s picture.

April 26, 2008 | Filed Under Humus worldwide | Tags: , , ,

Comments

2 Responses to “Q&A: Israeli vs. Lebanese Hummus”

  1. Johny SWEDEN on May 2nd, 2008 2:07 pm

    Israeli vs Lebanese hummus? ,
    First off all, there isnt anything called israeli hummus. Second, i have eaten hummus in the best places of damascus and beirut, and Lebanon wins every time.
    The “israeli hummus ” is just a bad imitation of the palestinian hummus.

  2. shooky ISRAEL on May 2nd, 2008 11:25 pm

    Dear Johny,

    I live in Israel, and so does Said from Acres and so did the late Abu Hassan from Jaffa, whos hummus I love best. There are over 2000 hummus places in Israel and I probably tried some 300 of them. About half of which are owned and operated by Israeli Arabs, and some of them prefer to be called Palestinians.

    I fully respect that, but I have no intention to waste energy on being politically correct - Jaffa and Acres are Israeli cities. Israeli Arabs may have a different nationality than mine, but we are all citizens of Israel. So when I say “Israeli Hummus” I mean “the hummus you can eat in Israel”, and please don’t drag me again into this never ending dispute about who invented it and who owns it.

    If when saying “Israeli Hummus” you mean “Hummus made by Israelis who are not Arab”, than it is true that we owe the Palestinians a lot when it comes to hummus. Nevertheless, there are also many hummus places which are owned by non-Arab Israeli, many of which make good or even very good hummus.

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