Hummus (a
transliterationTransliteration is the practice of converting a text from one writing system into another in a systematic way.-Definitions:From an information-theoretical point of view, transliteration is a mapping from one system of writing into another, word by word, or ideally letter by letter...
of the ; also spelled
hamos,
houmous,
hommos,
hommus,
hummos,
hummous or
humus; see romanization of Arabic) is a
Levantine ArabLevantine cuisine is the traditional cuisine of the Levant, known in Arabic as the Bilad ash-Sham. This region shared many culinary traditions under the Ottoman Empire which continue to be influential today...
dipA dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, cut-up raw vegetables, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, or falafel...
or
spreadA spread is a food that is spread with a knife onto bread, crackers, or other bread products. Spreads are added to bread products to provide flavor and texture, and are an integral part of the dish, i.e., they should be distinguished from condiments, which are optional additions...
made from cooked, mashed
chickpeaThe chickpea is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. Chickpeas are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables...
s, blended with
tahiniTahini , zhimajiang , nerigoma, טחינה or sesame paste is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. Middle Eastern tahini is made of hulled, lightly roasted seeds. East Asian sesame paste is made of unhulled seeds.Tahini is a major component of hummus bi tahini and other Middle Eastern foods...
,
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a popular food throughout the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
.
Etymology
The word comes from
ḥummuṣ 'chickpeas'. Like other Arabic loanwords, its spelling in
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
is unstable. The earliest use of the word
hummus in English noted by the
Oxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language...
(OED) was in 1955. Among the common spellings for this word as transliterated into English are
hummus,
hommos and
hoummos. The spelling
humusHumus is degraded organic material in soil, which causes some soil layers to be dark brown or black....
is avoided in English due to its having the same spelling as another English word
humusHumus is degraded organic material in soil, which causes some soil layers to be dark brown or black....
, though this is the most common
TurkishTurkish is spoken as a first language by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other...
spelling and the OED indicates the word entered the English language from Turkish. The full Arabic name of the prepared spread is (
ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīnaTahini , zhimajiang , nerigoma, טחינה or sesame paste is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. Middle Eastern tahini is made of hulled, lightly roasted seeds. East Asian sesame paste is made of unhulled seeds.Tahini is a major component of hummus bi tahini and other Middle Eastern foods...
) which means
chickpeas with tahina.
Historical origins
Many cuisine-related sources carry forward a
folkloreFolklore is the body of expressive culture, including stories, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions of that culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which...
which describes hummus as one of the oldest known prepared foods with a long history in the Middle East which stretches back to antiquity, but its historical origins are unknown. The historical enigma is such that the origins of hummus-bi-tahini could be much more recent than is widely believed. One of the earliest verifiable descriptions of hummus comes from 18th-century Damascus and the same source claims it was unknown elsewhere.
Meanwhile some cookbooks repeat the legend that hummus was first prepared in the 12th century by
SaladinṢalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was a Kurdish Muslim who became the Sultan of Egypt and Syria. He led Islamic opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...
. Sources such as
Cooking in Ancient Civilizations by Cathy K. Kaufman carry speculative recipes for an ancient Egyptian hummus, substituting vinegar for lemon juice, but acknowledge we do not know how the Egyptians ate their chick-peas. Similarly, no recipe for hummus has been identified among the many books on cooking surviving from ancient
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
.
Charles Perry, co-author of
Medieval Arab Cookery notes that owing to hummus bi tahina being an everyday staple, and because of the lack of Arab recipe books published between the 14th and 20th centuries, no recipes documenting this food's early ingredients have been found. He says the nearest medieval example recorded in a 13th century Arab cookbook,
Kitab Wasf al-Atima al-Mutada is
Hummus kasa, which substitutes vinegar for lemon, includes extra herbs and adds walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and pistachios.
History of the ingredients
Chickpeas and
sesameSesame is a flowering plant in the genus Sesamum. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India...
, the crops from which hummus's main ingredients are taken, were known and cultivated in the ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern worlds. Chickpeas are hummus's principal ingredient, and have been a human food item for over 10,000 years. The chickpea was used as a food item in
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
before 4000 BC, was one of the earliest crops cultivated in
MesopotamiaMesopotamia "land between the rivers" is a name for the Tigris–Euphrates region in the eastern Mediterranean, largely corresponding to Iraq, as well as northeastern Syria, some parts of southeastern Turkey, and some parts of the Khūzestān Province of southwestern...
and was a common street dish in
ancient RomeAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
; indeed the famous Roman orator,
CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.Cicero is generally perceived to be one of the most versatile minds of ancient Rome...
, was named for an ancestor who had a wart on his nose shaped like a chickpea. Archeological evidence identifies chickpeas in the
SumerianSumer was a civilization and historical region in southern Iraq . It is the earliest known civilization in the world and is known as the Cradle of Civilization...
diet before 2500 BC. They are noted in a 13th century work by
Muhammad bin Hasan al-Baghdadi', usually called al-Baghdadi was the compiler of an early Arab cookbook of the Abbasid period, كتاب الطبيخ , written in 1226....
of Persia for a "simple dish" of meat, pulses and spices. It is unknown whether chickpeas were commonly mashed in any of these cultures. Tahini (sesame paste) likewise lacks any clear historical context. Sesame was grown as a crop in ancient
AssyrianAssyria was a civilization centered on the Upper Tigris river, in Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times in history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
and Babylonian gardens and is mentioned by
ColumellaLucius Iunius Moderatus Columella was a Roman writer. After a career in the army , he took up farming...
. It was common in Roman and Persian kitchens in the form of
sesame oilSesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. Besides being used as a cooking oil in South India, it is often used as a flavor enhancer in Chinese, Korean, and to a lesser extent Southeast Asian cuisine.-Composition:Sesame oil is composed of the following fatty acids:Sesame oil...
but not as the tahini paste of hummus-bi-tahini.
Other ingredients are used in sundry recipes of hummus-bi-tahini. The olive originated in
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and Palestine, where it was being cultivated by the fourth millennium BC. A variety may have been indigenous to
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
, where olives were being cultivated by 2500 BC. The
BibleThe Bible contains the central religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. Modern Judaism generally recognizes a single set of canonical books known as the Tanakh, or Hebrew Bible, as it is written almost entirely in the Hebrew language, with some small portions in Aramaic...
mentions olive oil many times and it was exported from Palestine to places such as
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
. Several Roman writers indicate that salt was used in extracting the oil. Garlic was grown in the gardens of King Merodach-Baladan II of Babylon and probably was in Greece by the early Bronze Age. The lemon was last to arrive in the Middle East and Mediterranean world, originating in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. However, depictions of lemons have been found at
PompeiiPompeii is a ruined and partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei...
and
TusculumTusculum is the classical Roman name of a major ancient Alban Hills city, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:The ruins of Tusculum are situated on the Tuscolo hill, on the north edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano...
, so this fruit must have reached the Roman world, at least as a luxury import, by the first century.
Nutritional information
Hummus is high in iron and
vitamin CVitamin C or L-ascorbic acid is an essential nutrient for humans, in which it functions as a vitamin. Ascorbate is required for a range of essential metabolic reactions in all animals and plants...
, and also has significant amounts of folate and
vitamin B6Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin and is part of the vitamin B complex group. Pyridoxal phosphate is the active form and is a cofactor in many reactions of amino acid metabolism, including transamination, deamination, and decarboxylation...
. The chickpeas make it a good source of protein and
dietary fiberDietary fiber , sometimes called roughage, is the indigestible portion of plant foods that pushes food through the digestive system, absorbing water and easing defecation...
. Depending on the recipe hummus carries varying amounts of
monounsaturated fatIn biochemistry and nutrition, monounsaturated fats are fatty acids that have a single double bond in the fatty acid chain and all of the remainder of the carbon atoms in the chain are single-bonded...
. Hummus is useful in vegetarian and vegan diets and like other combinations of grains and pulses, when eaten with bread it serves as a
complete proteinA complete protein is a source of protein that contains an adequate proportion of all of the essential amino acids for the dietary needs of humans or other animals. This does not refer to the protein source only containing all the essential amino acids, but also containing them in complete...
.
Serving methods
As an appetizer and
dipA dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, cut-up raw vegetables, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, or falafel...
hummus is scooped with flatbread (such as
pitaPide or pita , also called and less commonly known as pite , питка , is an often round, brown, wheat flatbread made with yeast....
). Hummus is also served as part of a
mezeMeze or mezze in the Eastern Mediterranean is a selection of appetizers or small dishes often served with beverage, like anise-flavored liqueurs such as arak, ouzo, raki or...
or as an accompaniment to
falafelFalafel is a fried ball or patty made from spiced chickpeas and/or fava beans. Originally from Egypt, falafel is a popular form of fast food in the Middle East, where it is also served as a mezze....
, grilled
chickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird...
,
fishA fish is any aquatic vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scales, and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins...
or eggplant. Garnishes include chopped
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
,
cucumberThe cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon.- Botany :...
,
cilantroCoriander is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. It is also known as Chinese parsley or, particularly in the Americas, cilantro. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to 50 cm [20 in.] tall...
, parsley, sautéed mushrooms, whole chickpeas,
olive oilOlive oil is a fruit oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. The wild olive tree originated in Asia Minor and spread from there as far as southern Africa, Australia, Japan and China. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and...
, hard-boiled eggs, paprika,
fulFul medammas also foul medammas is popular in Egypt, Somalia and Sudan, often eaten at breakfast. It consists of brown fava beans, partially or completely mashed, which are slow-cooked and served with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon juice...
, olives and pickles. Outside the Middle East it is sometimes served with
tortilla chipA tortilla chip is a snack food made from corn tortillas, which are cut into wedges and then fried . Corn tortillas are made of corn, vegetable oil, salt and water. Although first mass-produced in Los Angeles in the late 1940s, tortilla chips are considered to be a Mexican food...
s or
crackerA cracker is a type of biscuit that developed from military hardtack and nautical ship biscuits.-History:In 1792, Theodore Pearson of Newburyport, Massachusetts, made a cracker-like bread product from just flour and water that he called Pearson's Pilot Bread. An immediate success with sailors...
s.
Hummus fulFul medammas also foul medammas is popular in Egypt, Somalia and Sudan, often eaten at breakfast. It consists of brown fava beans, partially or completely mashed, which are slow-cooked and served with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon juice...
(pronounced /fuːl/) is topped with a paste made from fava beans boiled until soft and then crushed.
Hummus masubha/mashawshaMasabcha or m'sabcha is a variation of hummus popular in Israel, Syria and Lebanon.It consists of warm chickpeas served in a lukewarm sauce made of diluted hummus and tahini, served with minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and spices. A hot sauce is served on the side, or even incorporated into...
is a mixture of hummus paste, warm chickpeas and tahini.
In
Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East, Arto der Haroutunian calls hummus "one of the most popular and best-known of all Syrian dishes" and "a must on any
mezzehMeze or mezze in the Eastern Mediterranean is a selection of appetizers or small dishes often served with beverage, like anise-flavored liqueurs such as arak, ouzo, raki or...
table." Syrians in
Canada'sCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
Arab diaspora prepare and consume hummus along with other dishes like
falafelFalafel is a fried ball or patty made from spiced chickpeas and/or fava beans. Originally from Egypt, falafel is a popular form of fast food in the Middle East, where it is also served as a mezze....
, kibbe and tabouleh, even among the third and fourth-generation offspring of the original immigrants.
For Palestinians hummus has long been a staple food, garnished with olive oil and
"nana" mint leaves, paprika, parsley or cumin. A related dish popular in the
region of PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
and
JordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest,...
is
laban ma' hummus ("yogurt and chickpeas") which uses yogurt in the place of tahini and butter in the place of olive oil. The chickpeas are first boiled alone before the other ingredients are added and it is served hot.
Hummus is a common part of everyday meals in
IsraelIsrael officially the State of Israel , is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in the east, and Egypt on the southwest, and contains geographically diverse features within its...
. Many restaurants run by Mizrahi Jews and
Arab citizens of IsraelArab citizens of Israel is a phrase used by Israeli and other government and independent agencies to refer to Israeli citizens whose cultural and/or linguistic heritage, and ethnic identity, is Arab, including members of any religious tradition other than Jewish...
are dedicated to hot hummus, which may be served as chick peas softened with baking soda along with garlic, olive oil, cumin and
tahiniTahini , zhimajiang , nerigoma, טחינה or sesame paste is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. Middle Eastern tahini is made of hulled, lightly roasted seeds. East Asian sesame paste is made of unhulled seeds.Tahini is a major component of hummus bi tahini and other Middle Eastern foods...
. One of the fancier hummus versions available is traditional
hummus masabachaMasabcha or m'sabcha is a variation of hummus popular in Israel, Syria and Lebanon.It consists of warm chickpeas served in a lukewarm sauce made of diluted hummus and tahini, served with minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and spices. A hot sauce is served on the side, or even incorporated into...
, made with lemon-spiked tahini garnished with whole chick peas, a sprinkling of
paprikaPaprika is a spice made from the grinding of dried fruits of Capsicum annuum . In many European countries, the word paprika also refers to bell peppers themselves. The seasoning is used in many cuisines to add color and flavor to dishes. Paprika can range from sweet to spicy...
and a drizzle of olive oil. Hummus is eaten in restaurants, supermarkets and hummus-only shops called
humusiot.
Controversy
- In October 2008 the Association of Lebanese Industrialistshttp://www.ali.org.lb/ sought protected status from the European Commission
The European Commission acts as an executive of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union.The Commission operates in the method of cabinet government, with 27...
for hummus as a uniquely Lebanese food, similar to the Protected Geographical Status rights held over regional food items by various European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
countries.
- Food critic Jana Gur wrote that the ethos of some early Jewish settlers in modern Israel "was rejection of everything that reeked of Diaspora
The Jewish diaspora , the presence of Jews outside of the Land of Israel, is a result of the expulsion or emigration of Jews from Israel...
and an eager, almost childishChildish can refer to:*Being in the manner of a child*English writer and musician Billy Childish...
, embrace of the Levant. The infatuation with falafel and hummus, staples of Arabic cuisine, started there." The outcome, according to another commentator, was that "Shawarma, falafel and hummus soon became “sabraSabra is a term used to describe a Jewish person born in Israel. In contrast, an oleh or olah is a person who is an immigrant to Israel under Aliyah...
” foods." According to Jana Gur, "While not a single Israeli will claim that this chickpea and tahini concoction is anything but Arabic, the status it has reached in Israel is unprecedented anywhere in the Middle East: In Lebanon or in Jordan, hummus is a simple morning fare or a part of a meze table. In Israel it is a religion. The best hummus restaurants, invariably owned by Arabs, are considered national treasures. Guides are dedicated to the best places to "mop up" hummus, books and essays discuss comparative virtues of fluffy Jerusalem hummus as opposed to chunky Galilean versions. ...and supermarket shelves burst with a variety of hummus products, sporting catchy names (most of them Arabic)". According to Gur, "The success of certain brands of Israeli hummus abroad may have been what brought about Abboud's [Fadi Abboud, the president of the Lebanese Industrialist's Association] anger", leading him to claim that Israel has been "stealing" their country's national dishes, like hummus, falafel, tabbouleh and baba ghanouj.
- Interviewed on the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
program Cooking in the Danger ZoneCooking in the Danger Zone is a documentary television series produced by the BBC and presented by Stefan Gates.In each film food writer Gates explores unusual food stories in some of the world’s more dangerous places. He uses food to explore and understand people’s culture and the challenges they...
, Israeli food editor Gil Hovav stated that Hummus is so popular in Israel such that "even during the intifada years Jews would sneak in to risk their lives, sneak into the Muslim quarter just to have a vital, really genuine good humous ...". When asked if Humous was originally Jewish, or Arabic, he answered that "Humous is Arabic. Falafel, our national dish, our national Israeli dish, is completely Arabic and this salad that we call an Israeli SaladIsraeli salad is a chopped salad of finely diced tomato and cucumber. "Distinguished by the tiny diced tomatoes and cucumbers," it is described as the "most well-known national dish of Israel."...
, actually it's an Arab salad, Palestinian salad. So, we sort of robbed them of everything..."
- On September 2009 the France24 website published an article titled "Hummus, another cause for war in the Middle East". Discussing how Lebanese industrialists are concerned about the loss of a market share of one billion dollars a year in the face of foreign produce, the article contrasted the opinions of Fadi Abboud (president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association), stating that "Israelis have usurped several Lebanese and oriental products",http://www.ali.org.lb/foodcampaignarticles.html with those of Shooky Galili (an Israeli journalist specialising in food who writes a blog dedicated to hummus),http://humus101.com/EN claiming that “Hummus doesn’t belong to the country that invented it, but the people who love it”.