The Israeli government did not create the character or the movie, so suing Israel because of a movie with which it had nothing to do strikes me as, umm, silly. The habit of blaming Israel for everything went too far a loooong time ago.

In addition, given that nobody actually knows where hummus originated or who created it (if there was indeed one single creator, which seems kind of doubtful), it’s impossible to know whether that creator was a Jew, an Arab, a Druze or someone else, or where the person lived.

Many people in America, including many American Jews, refer to it as a “middle eastern” food, as someone said above. I honestly have never heard American Jews call hummus an “Israeli food.”

So is it REALLY worth wasting time in a court room attacking your neighbors to the south?

A far, far better way to gain new markets would be to experiment and find some more really delicious, amazing ways to prepare/use hummus. Since these will be developed in the modern era, you’ll be able to track these new inventions back to documented Lebanese sources. And regardless of the business question, EVERYBODY who enjoys really good food will thank you.

Constructive invention that improves the world for everyone? Or silly, wasteful, frivolous lawsuits? Which of these would actually be better for Lebanese business?

Anyway, hi.

The major influence behind these lawsuits is business. The worldwide hummus industry is estimated at US$1billion. Why wouldn’t a Lebanese producer of this product, who is in direct competition with Israeli producers, fight to have this commodity “Lebanonised” in law?

This would grant them a significant advantage over Israeli producers, as it would force the Israeli hummus makers to label their products “Lebanese dip”.

Although there is a humourous angle, as shown in this post, this isn’t the first time such action has been taken.

Champagne in France successfully forced champagne makers worldwide to drop the name “champagne”. Greece did likewise with “fetta” cheese, Portugal with “porto” wine and even Hungary with “tokay”.

The only problem with Lebanon trying to monopolise “Lebanese” cuisine is that our food is also Syrian, Palestinian and Jordanian food. These countries also, legitimately, produce the same food products.

Apart from that, I agree totally with these lawsuits as it would further the business interests of Lebanese producers.

But no medieval manuscript includes a recipe anything like it. The
closest is that awful hummus kasa from K. Wasf — we’ve both tried it, it doesn’t taste like hummus and it doesn’t even have the texture of a dip. so I think hummus bi-tahineh is not medieval and might not go back farther than the 18th century.” CP