Humus in the Bible
The first documented use of chick-pees to make humus in the middle-east, is from the age of the crusaders. What few people know is that humus was also mentioned in the old testament.
On the first time Ruth and Boaz had met in Bethlehem, he offered her some humus: “And at meal-time Boaz said unto her, Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar” (Ruth 2-14).
This is a mistranslation of course. The original word in ancient Hebrew, is “Hometz”. Which not only sounds a bit like “Humus”, but also resembles the word “Himtza”. The Hebrew name of chick-pees.
True, “Hometz” in modern Hebrew is vinegar. But you don’t really think Boaz was so rude as to offer Ruth to dip her bread in vinegar, do you? Got to admit it’s more reasonable to think it was Humus (the credit for this idea belongs to the Israeli writer Meir Shalev).
Hummus or Humus?
This seems like the right place to start our journey: how should I spell my favourite dish: Humus or Hummus? Wiki says it’s Humus for the soil and Hummus for the food. Google finds many more occurrences of Humus though, which may suggest people prefer the single m form. But than again – there’s a popular rock band called humus, and I’m not sure if hummus is more popular in this point of time. Yet, I’m sure it’s going to.
And well, the spelling issues are irrelevant now that I’ve already registered humus101.com. That’s a self explanitory domain, I think, but in case you wondered: yes, this is a 101 blog for Humus lovers.
English, as you might have already guessed, isn’t my mother tongue. And I guess some of the people who will get here will be non-native English readers too. But what are language barriers when it comes to the love for Humus (or Hummus). Especially in the era of globalization.
Humus, in case you didn’t know, is the Arabic word for chickpeas. It is also the name of a dish, made of chickpeas, tahini (aka thina, a sesame seeds paste) and a few other ingredients (the full recipe).
In future posts, I’ll discuss the history, sociology and culinary of Humus. In this point I will only note that it is a very ancient dish, that is being eaten for at list 1000 years, and even 3000 accorsing to some (who claim it was actually mentioned in the bible).
But my main interest will be in current status of Humus on the planet. Such as places around the globe where you can eat good Humus – a subject in which those of you living outside the middle east might have more helpful information than I do.
Well, Humus is about sharing – so please share the information with the rest of us.
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