The Hummus War: Lebanon Takes on Israel
Travel Blog • Joanna Kakissis • 10.10.08 | 10:47 AM ET
Fadi Abboud of the Lebanese Industrialists Association says the popular chickpea dip as well as dishes such as falafel, baba ghannouj and tabbouleh belong to Lebanon, not Israel. So his organization is planning to sue the Israelis for food copyright infringement, modeling their case after Greece’s successful branding of feta cheese. Will it work?
Everyone makes hummus in the Middle East (and even Greece) so it’s hard to know who owns it. “But attempts to claim the food as a ‘national dish’ remain a reliable way to start nationalistic squabbles across the region,” writes David Kenner in Foreign Policy’s Passport blog.
Meanwhile, Time reports the best hummus in the Holy Land can be found at Lina’s in Jerusalem. Time’s Tim McGirk asked Lina’s owner Ghalib Zahdeh: Who invented hummus?
“Who cares?” Zahdeh answered. “Everybody makes good hummus around here—except the Egyptians.”
Photo by svacher via Flickr (Creative Commons).
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Marilyn Terrell 10.10.08 | 6:51 PM ET
Some gorgeous photos of Lebanon on Dark Roasted Blend recently, giving me another reason to want to go (besides hummus and olive oil soap):
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/10/lebanon-switzerland-of-middle-east.html
Islamic directory 10.13.08 | 4:21 PM ET
Interesting thanks for sharing..
Salam
ghassan 10.13.08 | 11:12 PM ET
The best Hummus , Tabbouleh Baba ghanouj , grape leaves kibbeh, Falafel , spinach pies etc…are made the Lebanese way and best made in Lebanon.
Nobody can come close to Authentic Lebanese dishes and
Fadi Abboud is right to sue.
fsdafd 10.19.08 | 3:54 PM ET
NO
ISRAEL MAKES BEST
GO ISRAEL
YES