Hummus (/ˈhʊməs/, /ˈhʌməs/;[1][2]Arabic: حُمُّصḥummuṣ, "chickpeas"), also spelled hommus or houmous, is a
Middle Easterndip,
spread, or savory
dish made from cooked, mashed
chickpeas blended with
tahini, lemon juice, and garlic.[3] The standard garnish in the Middle East includes olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, parsley, and paprika.[4][5]
The earliest mention of Hummus comes from
Syria, in a 13th-century cookbook attributed to the
Aleppine historian
Ibn al-Adim.[6]
Popular in
Middle Eastern cuisine, it is usually eaten as a dip, with
pita bread. In the West, it is now produced industrially, and is often served as a snack or appetizer with crackers or vegetables.
Etymology and spelling
The word hummus is Arabic
Arabic: حُمُّص,
romanized: ḥummuṣ '
chickpeas'.[7][2][8] The full name of the prepared spread in Arabic is ḥummuṣ bi ṭaḥīna 'chickpeas with tahini'.[9] The colloquial Arabic word ḥummuṣ is a variant of the Arabic ḥimmaṣ or ḥimmiṣ which may be derived from the
Aramaic language (חמציḥemṣīn, ḥemṣāy[10]), corresponding to the
Syriac word for chickpeas: ḥem(m)ṣē.[11] The word entered the English language around the mid-20th century from the Arabic ḥummuṣ or via its
borrowing for the name of the dish in
Turkish: humus.[12][13] Some claim that it was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, in
Ruth 2:14 as חֹמֶץḥōmeṣ "vinegar", which can be derived from the word חימצה / חִמְצָהḥimṣā for chickpeas;[14][15][16][17] however, linguists Pelio Fronzaroli (1971) and Leonid Kogan (2011) derive Hebrew חֹמֶץḥome
ṣ "vinegar" from
Proto-Semitic root *ḥmṣ̂- "to be sour", whence also
Jewish Palestinian Aramaicḥm
ʕ and
Arabicحَامِضḥāmi
ḍ "to be sour; acid".[18][19][20]
Spelling of the word in English can be inconsistent, though most major dictionaries from American and British publishers give hummus as the primary spelling. Some American dictionaries give hommos as an alternative, while British dictionaries give houmous or hoummos.[21][2][11]
Other spellings include homous, houmos, houmus, and similar variants. While humus (as it is spelled in Turkish) is sometimes found, it is avoided as a
heteronym of
humus, organic matter in soil.[21]
Origin and history
Although multiple different theories and claims of origins exist in various parts of the Middle East, evidence is insufficient to determine the precise location or time of the invention of hummus.[27] Its basic ingredients—
chickpeas,
sesame,
lemon, and
garlic—have been combined and eaten in Egypt and the Levant for centuries.[28][29] Though regional populations widely ate chickpeas, and often cooked them in stews and other hot dishes,[30] puréed chickpeas eaten cold with tahini do not appear in records before the
Abbasid Caliphate in Egypt and the
Levant.[31]
The earliest mention of Hummus comes from
Syria, in a 13th-century cookbook attributed to the
Aleppine historian Ibn al-Adim.[6][32] Other early written recipes for a dish resembling hummus bi tahina are recorded in cookbooks written in
Cairo in the 13th century.[27][33] A cold purée of chickpeas with vinegar and pickled lemons with herbs, spices, and oil, but no tahini or garlic, appears in the Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table (كنز الفوائد في تنويع الموائد);[34][31] and a purée of chickpeas and tahini called hummus kasa appears in Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Karīm's The Book of Dishes:[35] it is based on puréed chickpeas and tahini, and
acidulated 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.[36]
Hummus is a popular dip in Egypt where it is eaten with
pita,[38] and frequently flavored with
cumin or other spices.[37][38][39]
In the
Levant, 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.[40]
Hummus is a common part of everyday meals in Israel. It is made from ingredients that, following
Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws),
can be combined with both meat and dairy meals. Chickpea dishes have long been part of the
cuisine of Jews who lived in the
Middle East and
Northern 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.[41]
One author calls hummus, "One of the most popular and best-known of all Syrian dishes" and a "must on any
mezzeh table."[42] Syrian and Lebanese in Canada's Arab
diaspora prepare and consume hummus along with other dishes like
falafel,
kibbeh and
tabbouleh, even among the third- and fourth-generation offspring of the original immigrants.[43]
In
Cyprus, hummus is part of the local cuisine in both
Turkish Cypriot and
Greek Cypriot communities where it is called "humoi" (
Greek: χούμοι).[44][45] In the United Kingdom, hummus was popularized by Greek Cypriot caterers, sometimes leading to a perception of it being a Greek food.[46]
In the United States and Europe, hummus is commercially available in numerous traditional and non-traditional varieties, such as beet or chocolate.[49]
As hummus recipes vary, so does nutritional content, depending primarily on the relative proportions of chickpeas,
tahini, and water. Hummus provides roughly 170
calories for 100 grams, and is a good to excellent (more than 10% of the
Daily Value) source of dietary fiber, vitamin B6, and several
dietary minerals.[51][52]
Fat content, mostly from tahini and olive oil, is about 14% of the total; other major components are 65% water, 17%
total carbohydrates, including a small amount of sugar, and about 10% protein.[51][52]
Packaged product
United Kingdom
In the 1980s, the supermarket
Waitrose was the first British supermarket to stock hummus. Hummus was popularized in the UK by chefs such as
Yotam Ottolenghi,
Claudia Roden and
Anissa Helou. As of 2013, £60 million worth of hummus was sold in the UK each year, and one survey found that 41% of Britons had hummus in their fridge, twice as many as the rest of Europe. A Waitrose spokesperson said it had become a grocery
staple.[53]
United States
In 2006, hummus was present in 12 percent of American households, rising to 17 percent by early 2009.[54] One commentator attributed the growth of hummus to America's embrace of ethnic and exotic foods.[54]
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.[55] 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.[55][56][57]
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 (45,000,000 kg) in 2015, an increase from 25,000,000 pounds (11,000,000 kg) in 2009.[55] Hummus consumption has been so popular that many tobacco farmers have switched to growing chickpeas to meet demand.[58]
Popular culture
Hummus is often seen as an unofficial "national dish" of Israel, reflecting its huge popularity and significance among the entire Israeli population,[37] which Israel's critics describe as an
appropriation of Lebanese,[59] Palestinian or Arab culture.[60] According to Ofra Tene and Dafna Hirsch, the dispute over ownership of hummus, exposes
nationalism through food and the important role played by the industrialization of hummus made by Israeli private companies in 1958.[61][62] Although, hummus has traditionally been part of the
cuisine of the Mizrahi Jews who lived in
Arabic-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,[63] while sociologist Rafi Grosglick points out the importance of its health aspects to their diet.[64] In recent years, through a process of gourmetization, the
Arab identity of hummus became a marker of its authenticity, making famous
Arab-Israeli villages such as
Abu Gosh and
Kafr Yasif. Hence, enthusiasts travel to the more remote Arab and
Druze villages in the northern Galilee region in search of culinary experiences.[37][65][66]
The 2005 short film West Bank Story features a rivalry between two fictional restaurants, the Israeli "Kosher King" and the Palestinian "Hummus Hut". A
parody of West Side Story, the film won the 2006
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.[71] In 2012, Australian filmmaker Trevor Graham released a documentary, Make Hummus Not War, on the political and gastronomic aspects of hummus.[72]
Lebanon and Israel's chefs have been engaged in a competition over the largest dish of hummus, as validated by the
Guinness World Record, as a form of contestation of "ownership".[59] The "title" has gone back and forth between Israel (2008), Lebanon (2009), Israel (January 2010),[73] and, as of 2021[update], Lebanon (May 2010).[59][74][75] The winning dish, cooked by 300 cooks in the village of al-Fanar, near
Beirut, weighed approximately 10,450 kilograms (23,040 lb), more than double the weight of the Israeli-Arab previous record.[76][77][78] According to local media, the recipe included eight tons of boiled chick peas, two
tonnes of tahini, two tonnes of lemon juice, and 70 kilograms (150 lb) of olive oil.[74]
^Grosglik, R. (2015). Hummus and the Organic Food Trend in Israel: Cosmopolitanizing a National Dish. Ethnologie française, 45, 257-267.
https://doi.org/10.3917/ethn.152.0257
^Fronzaroli, Pelio (1971). Studi sul lessico comune semitico. Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Rendiconti della Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, VIII. p. 623, 635, 641
^Kogan, Leonid (2011). "Proto-Semitic Lexicon". in Weninger, Stefan and Khan, Geoffrey and Streck, Michael P and Watson, Janet C. E (eds.), The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook, p. 239 of pp. 179–258
^e.g. a "simple dish" of meat, pulses and spices
Muhammad 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 of L'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.
Afzal-Khan, Fawzia; Seshadri-Crooks, Kalpana (2000), Fawzia Afzal-Khan; Kalpana Seshadri-Crooks (eds.), The Pre-occupation of Postcolonial Studies,
Duke University Press,
ISBN9780822325215
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
Bricklin, Mark (1994), Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor: The Ultimate Guide to the Health-Boosting and Health-Harming Factors in Your Diet, Rodale,
ISBN9780875962252
Don Brothwell and Patricia Brothwell (1998), Food in Antiquity: A survey of the Diet of Early Peoples, Expanded Edition, Johns Hopkins University,
ISBN0-8018-5740-6
Marks, Gil (2010), Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 269–271
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
Tannahill, Reay (1973), Food in History, Stein and Day,
ISBN0-517-57186-2
David Wesley, Elana Wesley, translators (2012), University of California Press (ed.), Beyond Hummus and Falafel: Social and Political Aspects of Palestinian Food in Israel, University of California Press,
ISBN9780520262324{{
citation}}: |author= has generic name (
help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link)
External links
Look up hummus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Anny Gaul, "Translating Hummus", Cooking with Gaul,
October 21, 2019. On hummus variants and authenticity.