Hummus the ultimate comfort food is basically a working man’s dish of blended chickpeas, sesame paste, garlic lemon and salt. Heretics and Americans add cumin; and if you want to be fancy maybe a little paprika, chopped parsley and olive oil to finish then scoop up with fresh and fluffy pita bread, add a few pieces of raw onion to munch and maybe a spicy chili relish.  Anything else is just for the tourists.

Hummus is characteristically the quintessential Middle Eastern dish associated with Arabic food, but has become also a symbol of national identity for Israeli Jews, thus transforming this simple dish of the people into one of the unintentional symbols of the Middle East conflict. With Arabs and Israelis alike claiming it as their own. It is, in essence both essentially Israeli and utterly Middle Eastern at the same time. Although at this point the Greeks will no…