Compare and contrast

This is why Israel has more Nobel prize winners than the entire Arab world combined.

Lebanese chefs prepared a massive plate of hummus weighing over two tons Saturday that broke a world record organizers said was previously held by Israel — a bid to reaffirm proprietorship over the popular Middle Eastern dip.

“Come and fight for your bite, you know you’re right!” was the slogan for the event – part of a simmering war over regional cuisine between Lebanon and Israel, which have had tense political relations for decades.

Lebanese businessmen accuse Israel of stealing a host of traditional Middle Eastern dishes, particularly hummus, and marketing them worldwide as Israeli.

“Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, its part of our traditions,” said Fady Jreissati, vice president of operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event’s organizer.

Yeah, you really have to concentrate on what’s important. Don’t try to break Israeli records in things like numbers of Ph.D’s per capita, or tech companies, or scientific innovation. Instead, let’s concentrate on what’s really important:

A similar attempt to set a new world record will be held Sunday for the largest serving of tabbouleh, a salad made of chopped parsley and tomatoes, that Lebanon also claims as its own.

Way to go, Lebanon. That’ll show ’em.

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6 Responses to Compare and contrast

  1. Pamela says:

    Chopped tomatoes, parsley and onions…I thought that was called salsa?
    Since tomatoes are a new world plant…

  2. Pamela, are you going to let a little thing like facts get in the way of Lebanese pride?

  3. Yannai says:

    Actually, they even manage to get THAT wrong. Hummus is already mentioned in the Bible. It’s very NAME is an Arab bastardization of the the Hebrew Hamitz (from the Himtza plant). Ask the next Arab you meet if he or she ever saw a chickpea plant (which is what “Hummus” is made of) grow in the desert. When the inevitable answer will be “well, never,” nod and say “well, there you go”.

    So much like the land itself, Arabs have actually stolen *Israel’s* national food, then claimed the reverse is the truth. Symbolical, isn’t it?

    Also? Falafel was invented by the Copts – you know, the *original* Egyptians who lived there before the Arabs invaded, conquered and settled there by force? I think I see a pattern here…

  4. Pamela says:

    Pattern…you mean like black velvet flocked wallpaper in the bathroom? *shudders*

    I have Faye Levy’s 1000 Jewish Recipes..think they need a copy?

  5. Michael Lonie says:

    “Yeah, you really have to concentrate on what’s important. Don’t try to break Israeli records in things like numbers of Ph.D’s per capita, or tech companies, or scientific innovation. Instead, let’s concentrate on what’s really important:”

    Well they are just doing what they can. Scientific progress being beyond them they have to settle for cuisine, even if it was originally somebody else’s. Man tut, was man kann, as the Germans say.

  6. Grantman says:

    Hey – where can I go for the tabouleh recipe?

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