June 30, 2008, - 4:26 pm
Barack Hussein Obama v. John McCain, Hummus Death Match
By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
Today at the 54th Annual Summer Fancy Food Show in Manhattan, my friends at Sabra hired “sand sculpture” artist Kirk Rademaker to craft busts of the American Presidential contenders. He used 100 pounds of hummus, and my friends at Sabra sent me this photo of Obama and McCain, hummus editions.
As readers of this site know, I’m a fan of Sabra because, despite Arab and Muslim boycotts of Israel, Sabra–a joint venture of Pepsi and Israel’s Strauss-Elite–is the most popular maker of hummus in the world, including in the Arab and Muslim worlds, where it is, ironically, more popular per capita, than in Israel (where it sells far less hummus). So whenever anyone calls it, “Arabic food,” you should correct them. It is Middle Eastern food eaten by plenty of Jews in the region, including the 1 million Jews expelled from their homes in Arab countries around the world, who’ve been eating it for centuries before the creation of Islam.
Hummus, or “Chummus” (in Hebrew),is the dip made from chickpeas, sesame butter (tahini or “techina” in Hebrew), olive oil, lemon, garlic, etc. Sabra Hummus dominates the hummus market.
As I previously noted:
It is an important statement that the company with the biggest market share of a food consumed mostly by anti-Semites residing largely in anti-Israel, anti-American Muslim Arab nations is a company in the country they most hate and wish to wipe off the map.
The dominance by Sabra is also yet another symbol of the backward nature of the oil-rich, idea-barren Arab world.
The word, “Sabra,” in Hebrew is a cactus. It is also used as slang to describe a native Israeli–prickly on the outside, but sweet on the inside.
Read more on Sabra and how Jews created hummus. Visit Sabra.
**** UPDATE, 07/01/08: Sabra in America and Sabra in Israel are separate companies, but the American one is half-owned by Israel’s Strauss-Elite. Sabra sent me this pic, too, from yesterday’s hummus Presidential sculpturing, including Hummus Hillary:
Its the quintessential Israeli appetizer. Can be enjoyed as a prelude to a main course or had together with falafel as a vegetarian meal. Don’t let any one tell you the Arabs have left a mark on Middle Eastern cuisine. They haven’t.
NormanF on June 30, 2008 at 5:18 pm