Lebanese to Israel: Hands off our hummus!

BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanese chefs prepared a massive bowl of hummus belief over two bags Saturday that bankrupt a world almanac organizers said was previously captivated by Israel - a bid to acknowledge proprietorship over the popular Middle Eastern dip.

"Come and action for your bite, you know you're right!" was the byword for the event - allotment of a alive war over regional cuisine between Lebanon and Israel, which have had close political relations for decades.

Lebanese businessmen allege Israel of stealing a host of acceptable Middle Eastern dishes, decidedly hummus, and business them common as Israeli.

"Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, its allotment of our traditions," said Fady Jreissati, carnality admiral of operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event's organizer.

Hummus - fabricated from mashed chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, auto juice, alkali and garlic - has been eaten in the Middle East for centuries. Its exact origin is unknown, though it's about seen as an Arab dish.

But it is also badly popular in Israel - served in accustomed commons and at many restaurants - and its acceptance is growing around the globe.

The affair of food copyright was aloft last year by the head of Lebanon's Association of Lebanese Industrialists, Fadi Abboud, back he announced plans to sue Israel to stop it from business hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli.

But to do that, Lebanon charge formally annals the product as Lebanese. The affiliation is still in the action of collec! ting abs tracts and proof acknowledging its claim for that purpose.

Lebanese industrialists cite, as an example, the accusation over feta cheese in which a European Union court ruled in 2002 the cheese charge be fabricated with Greek sheep and goats milk to bear the name feta. That ruling is alone valid for products awash in the EU.

Abboud says that action took seven years and realizes Lebanon's action with Israel is an acclivous battle.

Meanwhile, he says, contest like Saturday's serve to admonish the world that hummus is not Israeli.

"If we don't tell Israel that abundant is enough, and we don't admonish the world that it's not true that hummus is an Israeli acceptable dish, they (Israelis) will accumulate on business it as their own," he said Saturday.

Some 300 chefs were complex in preparing Saturday's massive ceramic bowl of hummus in a huge covering set up in city Beirut. The white-uniformed chefs acclimated 2,976 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of mashed chickpeas, 106 gallons (400 liters) of auto juice and 57 pounds (26 kilograms) of alkali to accomplish the dish, belief 4,532 pounds (2,056 kilograms).

It was not clear what the former Israeli almanac was, and organizers gave conflicting letters on back it was made.

But chefs and visitors bankrupt into acclaim and applause back a adumbrative from the Guinness Book of World Records presented Abboud with a certificate verifying Lebanon had broken the antecedent record. The bowl was then busy with the red, green and white Lebanese flag.

A similar attempt to set a new world almanac will be captivated Sunday for the largest serving of tabbouleh, a salad fabricated of chopped parsley and tomatoes, that Lebanon also claims as its own.

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