Food & Drink Feb 14, 2018 at 4:00 am

I've never been to Israel, but I go to this hummus bar regularly.

The classic hummus served with an egg, Israeli-style, and a side of Falafel. Jessica Stein

Comments

1
Considering hummus isn't a traditionally Jewish food, it's definitely appropriative.
2
Old School Israel, the current incarnation, was built in no small part by Eastern European, Ashkenazi folk. But yeah, they didn’t eat hummus in the shtetl.
3
@1
And pizza isn't traditionally Italian and hamburgers aren't trad German. Do you have a real point?
4
@LizNaylor I'm not sure what traditional means to you, however, A) It is a staple of Israeli cuisine, a country with 6 million Jews (the plurality of the world's Jews) - so yes, it's a major part of Jewish food. B) Jews have lived all over the Middle East and the Mediterranean - from Greece to Palestine to Tunisia to Iran etc. - continuously for the last 3 millenia. This may come as a shock but over 50% of Israeli Jews today are not Ashkenazi (Jews who left the Middle East for Europe some 1300 years ago) but are the children or grandchildren of Middle Eastern Jews, some who immigrated to Israel but the majority of whom were seriously compelled to or actually forced to leave all their possessions and flee their homes of hundreds and thousands of years as anti-Semitism grew. I'm afraid Middle Eastern cuisine, including hummus, is undoubtedly also ("also" not "only") a traditionally Jewish cuisine. It is not Israeli in origin, Israel as a country is only 70 years old, but to say it is not traditionally Jewish, either in the last 70 or in the last thousand years is false and an erasure of Jewish presence and history.
5
@4 The author termed it Israeli food. That was appropriative, unthinkingly at least.
6
@5 yes that is a stronger argument - still I'd say it is reaching since it is actually an Israeli staple. Similar to how Pakistani cuisine, can be called Pakistani or traditionally Pakistani even though Pakistan did not exist prior to 1947. Pakistani cuisine and its food like Israeli cuisine and its food are a collection of the diverse backgrounds that make up Pakistan and Israel, respectively. No Israeli would suggest that hummus was invented in the last 70 years in Israel, however, it is an Israeli food, just as any Pakistani food that was not invented in the last 70 years is still Pakistani food.
7
Thanks for assuming I don't know any history of the Middle East (you're a man, aren't you?), but my orig. comment is referring how the author avoided the place until she found out Jewish people owned it, lest it be approprative otherwise. Hummus originated in Egypt and the Arabic word for "chickpea" is hummus. Israelis could get really into ramen noodles over the next half a century, eat it every day, open thousands of restaurants selling it, make it a staple food, and in two generations, people will refuse to go into ramen noodle joints unless they're authentic and owned by Israelis.
8
You're conflating Arabic (a language) and Egypt (a country) as the name of and the place of origin of a food to mean therefore it can't be a typical food or historically eaten by Jews (an ethnic and religious group). My gut says that it wouldn't bother you if someone saw a place selling hummus, found out it was Turkish and thought oh its not appropriative I'll try it. Despite hummus being an Arabic word and not Turkish and being in origin from Egypt and not Turkey. Lastly, the writer of this article does not say that she would NOT have eaten there if she found out it was owned by others of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean heritage. I did not get that impression at all.
9
It's important to be in touch with ones roots and ones cultural heritage. I think Sydney Brownstone (originally Bronstein? Hey, are you related to Trotsky?) would actually come to love Israel, maybe even start a new life there amongst her people. But I guess I'm romantic lile that.

Still, she clearly has an interest, otherwise, why the article? Sometimes we all need to step back from the cosmopolitanism of modernity and drink from our own well.
10
I am glad to see Israelis and Jews in general embrace Palestinian cuisine. Hopefully they will also embrace the Palestinian people who have lived uninterrupted in colonial Israel for millennia.
11
Emo Sop. You're last Stranger comment was in 2016 attacking about another Israeli restaurant. Seriously???? This is the only topic in 2 years that bothers you? Byeeeeeeee.

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