Saturday, May 8, 2010

World's biggest food fight?


Back in January I posted about the hummus 'war' between Lebanon and Israel. At that time, Israel had just taken the lead with a record 4,090 kilograms (8,998 pounds) of hummus, prepared at the village of Abu Ghosh.




The BBC reports that Lebanon has mounted a counter-offensive, and now holds the high ground.

Lebanon has claimed the latest victory in the continuing battle with Israel over which country can make the largest serving of hummus.

Some 300 chefs set the new record, creating a huge 10-tonne vat of the chickpea-based dip in Fanar.




That more than doubles the previous record of about four tonnes, set in January by cooks in the Israeli-Arab town of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem.

Both Lebanese and Israelis claim hummus as a national dish.

A Guinness World Records adjudicator confirmed that Lebanon now held the record.

Hummus is a dip made of chickpeas, olive oil, sesame paste, lemon juice and garlic. The chefs mixed the ingredients together in a giant plate which itself claimed a record for the largest earthenware dish.


According to another report, the Lebanese chefs prepared precisely 10,452 kilograms (22,994.4 pounds) of hummus - the same as Lebanon's size in square kilometers. That's almost 11½ US tons of the stuff!

Lebanon already holds the record for the largest quantity of taboulleh prepared at one time (set last year), and according to the report, local chefs are now looking into setting another record, this one for felafel. Hey - as long as Israel and Lebanon can keep it on the level of a food fight, instead of shooting at one another, I imagine a great many people on both sides of the border will be very happy!

Peter

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