Don't mess with our hoummus, warn Lebanese

BEIRUT (AFP) — A battle over hoummus and tabbouleh is shaping up between Lebanon and Israel -- two neighbours still technically at war -- with efforts underway to clearly identify such dishes as exclusively Lebanese.

"In our mind tabbouleh and hoummus should belong to the Lebanese just as feta cheese belongs to the Greeks," said Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association.

"Now when hoummus is known all over the world as an Israeli Kosher dip or a Greek dip, that's not fair," he added. "This and other foods like tabbouleh are all Lebanese specialities and they should be registered as such.

He said his group is preparing to go to the European Union to register the names of certain dishes as Lebanese.

Legislation is also pending in the Lebanese parliament to protect the names of certain geographical locations specific to Lebanon so that products cannot be marketed under the name of a town or region.

"What appals me with Israel is that they are (marketing) hoummus as a traditional Israeli product when it is clearly a Lebanese product," said Ramez Abi Nader, a member of the Lebanese Industrialists Association.

"What they are doing is misleading as hoummus is an Arabic not a Hebrew word... and everyone knows that tabbouleh is Lebanese."

Hoummus is a dip made of chick peas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic while tabbouleh is a salad made with parsley, bulgur wheat, spring onions and tomatoes.

Both dishes, as well as others such as baba ghannouj, an aubergine dip, are widely popular in Israel and around the globe.

Abboud and Abi Nader said they believe Lebanon has suffered millions of dollars in losses from such dishes being marketed in various countries without being produced in Lebanon.

They said said their case was similar to the one over feta cheese in which a European Union court ruled in 2002 that feta is exclusively Greek.

They also argue that just as France and Scotland have succeeded in protecting their geographical appelation rights for sparkling wine from Champagne and Scotch whisky, so should Lebanon for some of its dishes.

Kamal Mouzawak, founder of Souk El Tayeb, a farmer's market in Beirut, said it was unthinkable that tabbouleh or hoummus could be marketed as other than Lebanese.

"When one speaks of Italy the first thing that comes to mind is pizza and pasta, when you speak about the States it's hamburger and when you speak of Lebanon it should be tabbouleh and company," Mouzawak said.

"It's important that we protect our foods because they are part of our roots," he added. "When I want to recount my origins I do so through hoummus and tabbouleh rather than a history book.

"When one speaks about hoummus, they must think of Lebanon and when they speak of Lebanon they must think of hoummus."