"hummus" news and stories

It's party season, and that means if you have any social life whatsoever, someone will be asking you to bring something to a get-together. Certain foods are obvious no-nos unless you're aiming for cheeky: anything made with aspic, blood sausage or Spam, for example. In general, you want to avoid needlessly messy, borderline unhealthy and unintentionally labor-intensive dishes, as well as ones that simply don't travel well.

The following rules apply no matter what kind of party (potluck, New Year's Eve, birthday, tailgating) or crowd (young, old, football freaks, opera fans). If you can't cook at all, bring good cheese and crackers. That's the universal crowd-pleaser.

Hummus
It seems like such a no-brainer -- who doesn't like dip at parties? But this one has a fatal flaw: garlic. All it takes is one big scoop to render your breath intolerable. Great for family get-togethers, not for swinging singles mixers. How about salsa instead?

Photo: No Recipes.

Hummus is one of those delicious foods that just aren't so pretty. A monochromatic beige dip made of chickpeas and tahini, it's often served straight from a plastic tub, its edible vessel a similarly hued slice of pita bread.

But such is not the case for Marc from No Recipes. Inspired by what we can only imagine was a very delicious and colorful trip through Tel Aviv, Marc decided he was going to make hummus that was not only full of flavor -- it was going to be beautiful too.

His homemade hummus, shown here, is drizzled with golden olive oil (which he allowed to collect inside the dip's swirls) and garnished with glaringly green parsley and a dash of paprika.

As if this hummus could be any more appealing, he eventually topped it off with caramelized onions.

[Via No Recipes]

Leftover pitas, tortillas and other thin, bready products can make a superb, simple and salubrious baked snack.

Well, it seems that they don't have enough material for disputes, arguments and accusations in the Middle East. Now we have the fight for the falafel--and the tabbouleh and the hummus too. Fadi Aboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association is preparing to file an international lawsuit against Israel for manufacturing foods that he claims originated in Lebanon. "If we can prove that this is a Lebanese product, using Lebanese recipes," he explains, "the name of the food will belong to Lebanon. They won't be able to use that name."

This case actually does have a precedent: a 2002 EU ruling in favor of Greece upholding that nation's claim to be the "originator" of feta cheese. However, shouldn't recipes that are centuries--if not millennia old--fall under public domain? Does this mean China will sue Italy for the rights to spaghetti? Then Italy can pursue action against America for posession of fried chicken, but America will be busy trying to wrest control of French fries from France... after all, these international incicents do have a way of spreading.

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For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. The boxes can range from austere lacquered trays to multi-tiered Hello Kitty confections of neon pink plastic. The meals themselves are anything from rice and leftovers to elaborate themed affairs of Pikachu-shaped dumplings with sesame seed eyes and carved radish trees. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

Today's entry, by Vingt Deux, takes the bento to delightfully geeky heights with a re-creation of the scorched sand and double suns of planet Tatooine in Star Wars. The sky is purple cabbage and the sand is pita and hummus, hiding a nutritious pile of cherry tomatoes underneath. Our Jawa wears a robe of Philly steak Tofurkey, with nori ammo belt and hands, and a black rice face with carrot cube eyes. Utinni!

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