Hummus War



In a report last week from Bethlehem:

Lebanon won the war against Israel in the battle for the world's largest serving of hummus on Saturday, Lebanese and Israeli media reported.

Beating the record set by Palestinian chefs in the West Jerusalem village of Abu Ghosh in January 2010, Lebanese cooks presented a 10,452 kilogram plate of the chickpea dish, amounting to 1 kilogram for each square kilometer of Lebanon, the Lebanese news site Ya Libnan reported.

Setting a new Guinness World Record, the Lebanese plate - measuring 7.17 meters in diameter and one meter high - was made with 8,000 kilograms of boiled chickpeas, 2,000 kilograms of tahina (a sesame seed paste), 2,000 kilograms of lemons and another 700 kilograms of olive oil.

And additional congratulations are deserved since Lebanon won the falafel war on the following day. More than 300 chefs mixed chickpeas with broad beans, adding onions, garlic, coriander, pepper and cumin to concoct 5173 kilograms of falafel.