Commonly consumed inLevantine cuisine, it is usually eaten as a dip withpita bread. In the West, it is produced industrially and consumed as a snack or appetizer with crackers or vegetables.[4]
Etymology and spelling
The wordhummus isArabic:حُمُّص,romanized: ḥummuṣ 'chickpeas'.[9][2][10] The full name of the prepared spread in Arabic isḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna 'chickpeas with tahini'.[11] The colloquial Arabic wordḥummuṣ is a variant of the Arabicḥimmaṣ orḥimmiṣ which may be derived from theAramaic language (חמציḥemṣīn, ḥemṣāy[12]), corresponding to theSyriac word for chickpeas:ḥem(m)ṣē.[13] The word entered the English language around the mid-20th century from the Arabicḥummuṣ or via itsborrowing for the name of the dish inTurkish:humus.[14][15]
Spelling of the word in English can be inconsistent, though most major dictionaries from American and British publishers givehummus as the primary spelling. Some American dictionaries givehommos as an alternative, while British dictionaries givehoumous orhoummos.[16][2][13]
Other spellings includehomous,houmos,houmus, and similar variants. Whilehumus (as it is spelled in Turkish) is sometimes found, it is avoided as aheteronym ofhumus, organic matter in soil.[16]
Origin and history
Although multiple different theories and claims of origins exist in various parts of theMiddle East, evidence is insufficient to determine the precise location or time of the invention of hummus.[22] Its basic ingredients—chickpeas,sesame,lemon, andgarlic—have been combined and eaten inEgypt and theLevant for centuries.[23][24] Though regional populations widely ate chickpeas, and often cooked them in stews and other hot dishes,[25] puréed chickpeas eaten cold with tahini do not appear in records before theAbbasid Caliphate in Egypt and the Levant.[26]
The earliest mention of Hummus comes from Syria, in a13th-century cookbook attributed to theAleppine historian Ibn al-Adim.[8][27][28] Other early written recipes for a dish resemblingḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna are recorded in cookbooks written inCairo in the 14th-century.[22][29][30] A cold purée of chickpeas with vinegar and pickled lemons with herbs, spices, and oil, but no tahini or garlic, appears in theTreasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table (كنز الفوائد في تنويع الموائد);[31][26] and a purée of chickpeas and tahini calledhummus kasa appears inMuhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi'sThe Book of Dishes:[32] it is based on puréed chickpeas and tahini, andacidulated with vinegar (not lemon), but it also contains many spices, herbs, and nuts, and no garlic. It is also served by rolling it out and letting it sit overnight.[33]
Regional preparations
Hummus with pine nuts and olive oilHummus served in a bowl on a platter ofpita bread
Hummus is a common dip in Egypt where it is eaten withpita,[35] and frequently flavored withcumin or other spices.[34][35][36]
In theLevant, hummus has long been a staple food, often served as a warm dish, with bread for breakfast, lunch or dinner. All of the ingredients in hummus are easily found in gardens, farms and markets, thus adding to the availability and popularity of the dish. Hummus is usually garnished with olive oil,"nana" mint leaves, paprika, and parsley.[37]
Hummus is a common part of everyday meals in Israel.[38] It is made from ingredients that, followingKashrut (Jewish dietary laws),can be combined with both meat and dairy meals. Chickpea dishes have long been part of thecuisine of Jews who lived in theMiddle East andNorthern Africa. The many Mizrahi Jewish immigrants from these countries brought their own unique variations, such as hummus with fried eggplant and boiled eggs prepared by Iraqi Jews. Israeli versions use large amounts of tahini for a creamier texture.[39]
One author calls hummus, "One of the most popular and best-known of all Syrian dishes" and a "must on anymezzeh table."[40] Syrian and Lebanese in Canada's Arabdiaspora prepare and consume hummus along with other dishes like falafel,kibbeh andtabbouleh, even among the third- and fourth-generation offspring of the original immigrants.[41]
InCyprus, hummus is part of the local cuisine in bothTurkish Cypriot andGreek Cypriot communities where it is called "humoi" (Greek:χούμοι).[42][43] In the United Kingdom, hummus was popularized by Greek Cypriot caterers, sometimes leading to a perception of it being a Greek food.[44]
In the United States and Europe, hummus is commercially available in numerous traditional and non-traditional varieties, such as beet or chocolate.[47]
As hummus recipes vary, so does nutritional content, depending primarily on the relative proportions of chickpeas,tahini, and water. Hummus provides roughly 170calories for 100 grams, and is a good to excellent (more than 10% of theDaily Value) source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6, and severaldietary minerals.[49][50]
Packaged product
United Kingdom
In the 1980s, the supermarketWaitrose was the first British supermarket to stock hummus, spelled houmous.[17][18][19][20][21] Hummus was popularized in the UK by chefs such asYotam Ottolenghi,Claudia Roden andAnissa Helou. As of 2013, £60 million worth of hummus was sold in the UK each year, and one survey found that 41% of British respondents had hummus in their fridge, twice as many as the rest of Europe. A Waitrose spokesperson said it had become a grocerystaple.[51]
United States
In 2006, hummus was present in 12 percent of American households, rising to 17 percent by early 2009.[52] One commentator attributed the growth of hummus to America's embrace of ethnic and exotic foods.[52]
While in 2006–08 when some 15 million Americans consumed hummus, and annual national sales were about $5 million, sales growth in 2016 was reflected by an estimated 25% of US households consuming hummus.[53] By 2016, the leading American hummus manufacturer,Sabra Dipping Company, held a 62% market share for hummus sales in the United States, and was forecast to exceed $1 billion in sales in 2017.[53][54][55]
To meet the rising consumer demand for hummus, American farmers increased their production of chickpeas four-fold since 2009, harvesting more than 100,000,000 pounds (45,000 tonnes) in 2015, an increase from 25,000,000 pounds (11,000 tonnes) in 2009.[53] Hummus consumption has been so popular that many tobacco farmers have switched to growing chickpeas to meet demand.[56]
Hummus is often seen as an unofficial "national dish" of Israel, reflecting its huge popularity and significance among the entire Israeli population,[34] which Israel's critics describe as anappropriation of Lebanese,[57] Palestinian or Arab culture.[58] According to Ofra Tene and Dafna Hirsch, the dispute over ownership of hummus exposesnationalism through food and the important role played by the industrialization of hummus made by Israeli private companies in 1958.[59][60] Although hummus has traditionally been part of thecuisine of the Mizrahi Jews who lived inArabic-speaking lands, the dish was also popularized among the Jewish immigrants from Europe in the late 19th and early 20th century. Historian Dafna Hirsch describes its adoption in their diet as part of an attempt of blending in the Middle Eastern environment,[61] while sociologist Rafi Grosglick points out the importance of its health aspects to their diet.[62] In recent years, through a process of gourmetization, theArab identity of hummus became a marker of its authenticity, making famousArab-Israeli villages such asAbu Gosh andKafr Yasif. Hence, enthusiasts travel to the more remote Arab andDruze villages in the northernGalilee region for culinary experiences.[34][63][64]
The 2005 short filmWest Bank Story features a rivalry between two fictional restaurants, the Israeli "Kosher King" and the Palestinian "Hummus Hut". Aparody ofWest Side Story, the film won the 2006Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.[69] In 2012, Australian filmmaker Trevor Graham released a documentary,Make Hummus Not War, on the political and gastronomic aspects of hummus.[70]
Lebanon and Israel's chefs have been engaged in a competition over the largest dish of hummus, as validated by theGuinness World Record, as a form of contestation of "ownership".[57] The "title" has gone back and forth between Israel (2008), Lebanon (2009), Israel (January 2010),[71] and, as of 2021[update], Lebanon (May 2010).[57][72][73] The winning dish, cooked by 300 cooks in the village of al-Fanar, nearBeirut, weighed approximately 10,450 kilograms (23,040 lb), more than double the weight of the Israeli-Arab previous record.[74][75][76]
^e.g. a "simple dish" of meat, pulses and spicesMuhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi described in the 13th century, Tannahill p. 174
^abZaouali, Lilia; DeBevoise, M. B.; Zaouali, Lilia (2009).Medieval cuisine of the Islamic world: a concise history with 174 recipes. Berkeley: University of California Press.ISBN978-0-520-26174-7. translation ofL'Islam a tavola (2004), p. 65
^Ibn-al-Karīm, Muḥammad Ibn-al-Ḥasan; Perry, Charles; ibn al-Karīm, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan (2005).A Baghdad cookery book: the book of dishes (Kitāb al-ṭabīkh). Totnes: Prospect Books.ISBN9781903018422.
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Amster, Linda; Sheraton, Mimi (2003), Linda Amster (ed.),The New York Times Jewish Cookbook: More Than 825 Traditional and Contemporary Recipes from Around the World, St. Martin's Press,ISBN9780312290931
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Habeeb Salloum; James Peters (1996),From the Lands of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes, I.B.Tauris,ISBN1-86064-038-9
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