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2 - The Hummus Wars: Local Food, Guinness Records and Palestinian-Israeli Gastropolitics
- from Part I - Food, Pride, Power
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- By Nir Avieli, Ben Gurion University, Israel
- Edited by Ishita Banerjee-Dube
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- Book:
- Cooking Cultures
- Published online:
- 05 July 2016
- Print publication:
- 24 June 2016, pp 39-57
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Summary
Hummus (chickpea paste) is extremely popular in Israel. Culinary establishments that serve hummus in its many forms are the most common fast food venues and cheap eateries in the country; surveys constantly show that hummus is the most popular food in Israeli domestic refrigerators. This chapter intends to weave a tale of appropriation and adaptation, confrontation and cohabitation, hybridity and delineation, and passion and pride centring on hummus, a mundane and ubiquitous dish routinely shared by diners. The ‘elasticity’ of hummus together with the fact that it is meant to be shared, makes it amenable to incessant variations. Hummus is at once an agent of intercultural exchange and an inciter of fierce competition over ‘national pride’ and honour.
By means of a focus on such competitions between two nations engaged in armed conflict – Israel and Lebanon – I will probe how notions of the ‘national’ and the ‘local’, and of authenticity and hybridity get constructed, where ‘appropriation’ props up ‘cultural copyright’ and quantity gains priority over quality in the fight over ‘national pride’. I will also examine the active involvement of Palestinians of Israeli citizenship in a Palestinian-Israeli village in one such competition to reflect on the ‘elasticity’ of hummus as a metaphor for the ‘elasticity’ of belonging and identity, and ponder on the possibility of mapping distinct cartographies of space and region through food.
Hummus is the Arabic term for chickpea beans as well as for the chickpea based dip. The dip is made of boiled chickpeas pound or ground and then mixed with lemon juice, tahini (sesame paste) and olive oil. The dip is seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper, but there are many variations, additions and secrets concerning specific hummus recipes. The dip may be served with a dash of olive oil, with a spoonful of tahini dip (sesame paste mixed with lemon and water), with whole or crushed chickpeas, and with some paprika or parsley that add taste and colour. Mssabaha is a Palestinian breakfast dish made of boiled hummus beans mixed (and not pounded) with tahini dip and olive oil, served with a spicy sauce made of pickled chilies and lemon. Another variation includes foul (fava beans) paste and hardboiled eggs.
4 - Feasting with the Living and the Dead: Food and Eating in Ancestor Worship Rituals in Hội An
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- By Nir Avieli, Ben Gurion University
- Edited by Philip Taylor
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- Book:
- Modernity and Re-Enchantment
- Published by:
- ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute
- Published online:
- 21 October 2015
- Print publication:
- 31 July 2007, pp 121-160
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Summary
Ancestor worship ceremonies [đám giỗ] are the most commonly celebrated rituals in the central Vietnamese town of Hội An. As every person has two parents and four grandparents (in some cases even more as, prior to 1975, polygamy was legal and I have met several such polygamous families in town), most Hoianese conduct several such rituals annually. Obviously, many Hoianese have living parents and grandparents, but then they would participate in their elders’ ceremonies. And since extended-family members, friends and neighbours are routinely invited to join ancestor worship rituals, most people participate in well over a dozen such events yearly. Moreover, as most other Hoianese rituals and festivals include some measure of ancestor worship, it would be safe to claim that worship of ancestors is the most commonly practised ritual in Hội An. Thus, one of my informants clearly stated: “…they say that we are Buddhists or Taoists but for me, I think that we are ancestor worshippers. This is what we mostly do….”
Hoianese ancestor worship rituals are usually large and expensive affairs, with the number of participants ranging from a few dozen to over 200 and their expenses reaching no less than 15,000 đổng (about US$1) per guest in year 2000, and often thrice as much. 3 Multiplied by several such rituals per year, one realizes the huge efforts invested in ancestor worship in terms of work, time and money.
At this point, however, it is extremely important to stress that most of the money and efforts are invested in preparing the food, while most of the time is spent cooking and consuming it, facts that indicate the huge importance of the food in these gatherings. Indeed, the guests are invited to ăn đám giỗ (“eat [the] ancestor worship ceremony”), emphasizing the overwhelming importance of eating in these events.
Yet despite the obvious centrality and importance of food and eating in these rituals, researchers of Vietnamese culture have, by and large, neglected the culinary facets of ancestor worship or, at best, treated them as anecdotal and trivial.