Hummus Infiltrates Middle America

Maybe I'm just an ivory-tower liberal, but I never realized that hummus wasn't common everywhere.

Interesting article from the New York Times about the rising popularity of flavored hummuses (hummii?).

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:rising popularity of flavored hummuses (hummii?).

Ten years hummus will be but a boated sugary chocolate/cherry swirl caricature of its former perfection in simplicity self. Don't believe me, have a conversation with a bagel.

Well, do you both agree that it's very healthy?

cilantro wrote:Well, do you both agree that it's very healthy?

Compared to Cheese Dip, yes.
Compared to Salsa, no, at least not the best hummos out there.

Add the right amounts of olive oil and tahini, and the fat levels skyrocket. Leave it out, and it's often like eating paste.

I remember that where I grew up in Cincinnati, I defined a restaurant as "exciting" if they served a hummos plate. It's probably a little more available now. I agree with GWiv, hummos horrors we cannot even concieve of are just down the pike. I love how the article calls it "low-fat;" Joel is absolutely right, it is what you make of it. I'm guessing a Crisco-based hummos spread with cinnamon and sugar...

We got into a dust-up with the school nutritionist at our district: we asked for hummos to be served at school lunch, and her immediate response was "kids won't eat it, they won't know what it is."

It's full of protein, though, which gives it a leg up on salsa IMO.

I'm just astonished that hummus is considered exotic in some places - it seems like it's been the go-to dip of choice at parties all of my life (along with spinach, of course). I believe you can even buy it at the Wal-Mart in my husband's tiny East Texas hometown, a place where a purchase of mango might get you beat up.

Wow. That article drips with as much derision as real hummus does with olive oil.

G Wiv wrote:

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:rising popularity of flavored hummuses (hummii?).

Ten years hummus will be but a boated sugary chocolate/cherry swirl caricature of its former perfection in simplicity self. Don't believe me, have a conversation with a bagel.

I endorse the plural hummii and also lament the asiagafication of bagels in Chicago.

However, isn't there lots of reason for hope for hummus at the moment? Twenty years ago there were relatively few Middle Eastern / Maghreb restaurants in Chicago, and now falafel and hummus are so prevalent that people in neighborhoods of many demographics can debate between the three best examples within javelin distance, and get a full array at the supermarket to boot. With the influx of immigrants comes a great energy for the cuisines of home, and with the exception of the Irish, people seem to like seeing things done right and contextually. I've had scratch, simple hummus proudly served in many homes and in any number of restaurants, with no signs of it destined for overcomplication in either of those venues.

At the same time, the market is supporting many varieties of this protein-packed food for the flavor-starved at the grocer, and yet if you look at Sabra (I really enjoy 'supremely spicy,' 'chipotle,' and 'Greek olive,' while accepting that these are not traditional), we're not getting crazy on the additives or sweeteners, just adding a knot of chipotles en adobo to the chickpeas the way we add El Yucateco to our hash browns some mornings. I've been excited that many mainstream producers are moving away from HFCS and artificial flavors in the past few years. Hummus in the refrigerator case is usually a reasonable, minimally-processed snack food that becomes its own category, and doesn't in my opinion degrade what's happening in the storefronts and family kitchens. There are many examples of food items diverging into two traditions in Chicago (and the States broadly) and co-existing quite happily, to the point that we fervently debate and love the processed offshoot as much as we do the original (I use that term loosely) item, gyros and hotdog-stand tamales being two.

So we've helped create a place for both traditional and expansion hummii in Chicago - more for everyone. Why we can't maintain the original for bagels, I don't know, but if community demand creates a pipeline for Levantine tahini for hummus and Italian clay for brick pizza ovens, I still hold out some hope for the NYC hard water supply making its way out.

OK, for a view of impending doom, try the menu at Lebanese Taverna, a now 11-site megalopolis in the greater DC area
http://lebanesetaverna.com/menus/lunch_dinner.php

HOMMOS BAR LUNCH DINNER
CREATE YOUR OWN HOMMOS: choose your favorite topping & dipper served with fresh oven baked bread

TRADITIONAL HOMMOS 5 5.5
GARLIC HOMMOS 5 5.5
SPICY HOMMOS 5 5.5

TOPPINGS 2 2
meat with pine nuts & almonds, chicken shawarma, shrimp, roasted pine nuts, falafel, foole m'damas, maanek, garlic butter sujok, kafta, tomatoes & feta

DIPPERS
rice crackers, pita chips 1 1
french fries, veggies 2 2

TRIO OF HOMMOS 10 10.5
traditional hommos with meat, garlic hommos with chicken shawarma, spicy hommos with tomatoes & feta

Most of those are pretty traditional, but shrimp? rice crackers? french fries?

Suzy Creamcheese wrote:lkm I'm just astonished that hummus is considered exotic in some places - it seems like it's been the go-to dip of choice at parties all of my life (along with spinach, of course). I believe you can even buy it at the Wal-Mart in my husband's tiny East Texas hometown, a place where a purchase of mango might get you beat up.

HI,

I am fairly certain my awareness of hummos parallels my first visits to Pita Inn. This would put this to the mid to late 1980's. It has not been known to me all my life.

I have too many of those spinach dip in bread, though not as many hummos dips.

Regards,

50 years from now, when flying cars whir overhead, we actually have a muslim president, and Englewood is filled with pet dog boutiques, my hummus will still consist of hummus, tahina, lemon, garlic and olive oil. Except by then I'll have soom loot so maybe I will throw some pine nuts and foie gras on top.

صحتين

حبيبي

Habibi wrote:50 years from now, when flying cars whir overhead, we actually have a muslim president, and Englewood is filled with pet dog boutiques, my hummus will still consist of hummus, tahina, lemon, garlic and olive oil. Except by then I'll have soom loot so maybe I will throw some pine nuts and foie gras on top.

صحتين

حبيبي

insha'Allah, my friend.

LOL!

OK, Santander - I agree that nothing out there is too insane right now, but as Suzy rightly points out, it isn't exactly mainstream yet - as the article shows, it's still mostly Middle Eastern producers expanding their market. When Kraft is done with it, I expect it to take a trajectory something like cheddar>american>velveeta>spray cheese.

Mhays wrote:When Kraft is done with it...

Kraft owns Athenos... probably my least-favorite supermarket brand. Grainy and bitter, like the chickpeas came out of a can.

Probably needs cinnamon and sugar

The article isn't really about hummus being exotic; it says the opposite. The article is about how common it is now and how most companies are experimenting with flavors:

Holy Land [the company featured in the article] opened in Minneapolis in 1987 as a storefront cafe that sold tubs of hummus as a sideline. Back then, Americans didn’t eat a lot of hummus. A staple of the counterculture in the 1960s and 1970s, hummus was long relegated to health food stores and “ethnic” aisles of markets. More recently, though, Americans seem to have decided that this low-fat, high-protein snack with a little olive oil stirred in is not so exotic. Industry giants have joined the market, for chips require dips. In 2008 Frito-Lay North America, a division of PepsiCo, became an owner of Sabra Dipping Company, producer of more than a dozen hummus varieties, including one with salsa.

Fifteen years ago, hummus was a $5 million business led by a smattering of companies. Today it dominates its sales category, called refrigerated flavored spreads, which has more than $325 million in annual retail sales, according to Symphony IRI Group, a Chicago market research firm. Sales are up more than 18 percent in the last year, it said.

(Emphasis is mine.)

Later:

In 2000, Holy Land introduced hummus flecked with jalapeño. More recently, the company, which makes about 100,000 plastic tubs of hummus each month for the Midwest market, rolled out guacamole-flavored hummus. By August, its blend of hummus and peanut butter will hit the shelves. “That one is for my daughter, Noor,” Mr. Wadi said. “She didn’t think she liked hummus. Then we stirred in peanut butter.”

Other companies are also taking liberties with hummus. In Somersworth, N.H., the Crazy Camel company makes six varieties of dessert hummus, including a blend of chickpeas and cocoa it calls chocolate mousse hummus. In North Carolina, Good Health Natural Foods of Greensboro makes Humbles baked hummus chips in four flavors, including one with feta.

A Denver company, using the Spanish term for chickpea, is selling Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill franchises, which feature hummus dishes ready to be accessorized with cilantro and green chili sauces.

Such variations might rankle traditionalists. But they raise awareness of hummus and create sales. If all goes well with Costco and with Target, which is also considering broader distribution, Holy Land will be a national brand, too. "We walk in the shadows of the big corporations,” Mr. Wadi said. “They help us tell our story. With their television ads, we’ll teach Americans to put hummus on their baked potatoes, instead of sour cream.”

Continued:

At Holy Land, hummus is wholly mutable. The Wadi family sells hummus made with favas to Egyptians accustomed to eating a purée of those beans. They sell Greek hummus in packages blazoned with cucumbers to evoke tzatziki. Soon, the family plans to market hummus mixed with diced habanero peppers to heat-seeking Somalis, a growing local community.

That adaptability is one reason the hummus sells well in the United States.

Mina Penna, a brand manager at Sabra Dipping Company, distilled the marketing strategy for hummus this way: “Take something that’s new to the American consumer, like hummus, and then add ingredients they know and love, like sun-dried tomatoes.”

When I feel too lazy to whip up a batch, carry-out from Pita Inn is the next best thing, followed by Sabra.

OK Habibi what does this

صحتين

حبيبي

mean? Curiosity has me wondering if you are swearing or blessing me/us! Good luck with the flying cars in 50 years. I've been waiting for flying cars in the past 50 years...haven't seen one yet.

I did, however, see an interesting TV program about hummus. They say there is going to be BIG MONEY in mass hummus production in the US....right up there with ketchup!

razbry wrote:OK Habibi what does this

صحتين

حبيبي

mean? Curiosity has me wondering if you are swearing or blessing me/us! Good luck with the flying cars in 50 years. I've been waiting for flying cars in the past 50 years...haven't seen one yet.

I did, however, see an interesting TV program about hummus. They say there is going to be BIG MONEY in mass hummus production in the US....right up there with ketchup!

Cheers, (literally "double health")

Habibi

I don't even like the roasted red pepper hummus you see in stores; it tastes like dessert, it's so sweet. Give me Pita Inn any day. I tried making it once and failed miserably. Somehow Mr. Pie still kept me.

Kraft owns Athenos... probably my least-favorite supermarket brand. Grainy and bitter, like the chickpeas came out of a can.

Bitter is not a function of canned chickpeas. Many a competent hummus can come from canned chickpeas. Bitter is more of an issue with bad tehini or a bad recipe.

spinynorman99 wrote:

Kraft owns Athenos... probably my least-favorite supermarket brand. Grainy and bitter, like the chickpeas came out of a can.

Bitter is not a function of canned chickpeas. Many a competent hummus can come from canned chickpeas. Bitter is more of an issue with bad tehini or a bad recipe.

Ok, how about "Grainy and bitter, like the chickpeas came from a can and were never rinsed"

JoelF wrote:Most of those are pretty traditional, but shrimp? rice crackers? french fries?

I must admit to being intrigued by both shrimp and french fries as hummos dippers.

But given a choice I will always order baba ghannouj instead.

Santander wrote:asiagafication

blame subway

It's interesting that this just came up because I had what was, to me, a jaw-dropping exchange with a co-worker recently of which hummos was the centerpoint. As briefly as I can:
I brown bag my lunch about 99% of the time. In summer it tends to be tupperware full of odds ands of things I grilled over the weekend, with the flavored oil/marinade mopped up with a bit of toast. Often I make some form of hummos or babaganouj. (No cinnamon-sugar, but I tend to play around with herbs, so perhaps I should just call it chickpea spread.)
Months ago, my cube neighbor asked me very ingenuously, what were all those things that I brought to lunch and how did I ever know about them/get them in my life.
Then, more recently, he asked me if I was famliar with something "exotic" or other, and as prelude to the question he pointed to my hummos and said, again with no intent to defame, "I'm only asking because, you know, you eat a lot of stuff that is not really that normal, or that usual for a lot of people...." (He said this in that tone that means: we know each other, we don't have to be PC about this, right? You eat weird stuff and we both know it. As if I had a deformity that he knew I was OK talking about.)
Again, I would have thought that with all the party trays and mass distribution of Athenos, etc., that even if you didn't like it, you could hardly fail to be familiar with it.

On the question of purity/authenticity: I love pure, classic hummos. But, like pasta, a pureed bean base is really a kind of blank canvas inviting variation and creativity. It's not like, say, a classic French or Chinese dish with cannonical components and technique which to vary is simply wrong.
I love Trader Joe's horseradish version. Or a bit of thyme, or cayenne, or some additional garlic, or chives, etc. etc. I love hummos with some added eggplant that's only half-way to baba. Or green onion. Why not?
And if I'm out of pita or pita chips, I'll shmear it on a bagel, or crackers.
Again, hummos seems to me infinitely flexible and adaptable, and to welcome it, rather than betrayed by it. (Although as soon as I see my first vanilla tira mi su hummos, I'll change my tune.)

I agree that Athenos is the worst commercial variety. The label says it all: I've forgotten but there's something in the ingredients like maybe corn syrup, or just oils not from olives that made me cross it off my list entirely.
In Hyde Park, it's hard to find anything but Cedar's, which frankly, I find dull. I think Whole Foods' basic hummos is quite good.

JoelF wrote:
Most of those are pretty traditional, but shrimp? rice crackers? french fries?

I've never seen rice crackers served like that in a restaurant, but a number of my wheat-avoiding girlfriends seem to bring rice crackers with hummus to lunch a lot.

Shrimp & french fries I've seen on offer almost everywhere in the Edgeware Road restaurants in London - hot freshly fried chips & chilled hummus & baba ganoush are amazingly good post-late night partying food.

Im not surprised hummus is not a mainstream item(I think I had hummus for the first time less tha 5 years ago, but I had heard of it or seen it on menus)

I am surprised folks actually buy hummus and dont make their own.

I am surprised folks actually buy hummus and dont make their own.

Not everyone has 30 seconds to spare. Okay, maybe 90 seconds if you count the time to wash out the food processor bowl.

I like making things from scratch, but I have never found a recipe that I find as tasty as Sabra's version. Perhaps I am too shy with the tahini.

mrbarolo wrote:In Hyde Park, it's hard to find anything but Cedar's, which frankly, I find dull. I think Whole Foods' basic hummos is quite good.

Great post - I've had similar conversations with neighbors in the past (though my current neighbors on either side are foodies, a lovely change of pace).

Try Hyde Park Produce Mart for hummus - they have the fill range of Sabra offerings at reasonable prices, and also sometimes a good homemade version in the refrigerator case. However, I most often just take out from the Nile even if I need something that'll keep for a while - unopened, their good containers with the lemon juice and olive oil stay fresh for several days and aren't that much more expensive than Sabra.

I seem to recall that Gary posted the recipe for a personal variation at one time. It looked a trifle elaborate, involving the pan toasting of various spices, but it also looked very, very appealing. I'm too busy to do a search right now, but I wanted to recall it to communal memory in this context.

I know from personal experience(stocking and re-stocking) the hummus zone on our deli: hummus is huge these days. Especially flavored hummus. It's a nightmare.