Israel, January 05: An Arab-Israeli village is planning to make the world's biggest hummus, a humble chickpea dip that stirs passions across the Middle East.
On Friday, residents of Abu Gosh, near Israeli-occupied Palestinian Jerusalem, will mash up 4,000 kilogrammes (8,800 pounds) of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.
That is twice as much as the Guinness record set in October by chefs in Lebanon, Israel's neighbour.
An inexpensive, nutritious and tasty dish, hummus is the great leveller in the Middle East, enjoyed by rich and poor, by Muslims, Jews and Christians and by Israelis and Palestinians.
"It is something we have in common. Something all of us love," says Shooky Galili, an Israeli journalist who runs the Hummus Blog that seeks to "give chickpeas a chance".
Lebanon, technically at war with Israel, recently sought to have the European Union register the popular dip as a Lebanese specialty.
The Lebanese Society for Industrialists claims Israeli businesses are robbing them of tens of millions of dollars in potential earnings by exporting packaged hummus made with traditional Lebanese recipes.
This drew outrage in Israel.
"Hummus can't be owned by anybody. It's like saying someone owns bread," says Galili, who calls himself "The Hummus Guy".
He deplores the bad blood over his favourite dish, but admits that the hummus war "is certainly one of the nicest wars we have in the region. If all our battles were like that it would be wonderful."
Hummus is sometimes described as one of the oldest known prepared foods, eaten in the Middle East for centuries.
Galili says it is irrelevant who first came up with the tasty concoction that has become an integral part of Middle Eastern culture, suggesting it should be seen as God's gift to the region.
In the Holy Land it enjoys near-cult status.
Often shared with family and friends, with everyone dipping their pita bread in the same plate, the ubiquitous dish crosses Israeli-Palestinian boundaries.
Israelis generally recognise the best hummus is made by Arabs.
But arguing about who serves the best hummus, and whether it should be creamy or chunky, is not for the faint-hearted.
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