Hummus, There's A Documentary For That
How do you pronounce hummus? If you read that and dragged out the “humm”, followed by a quick ‘us’, like me, you’re saying it wrong. I watched the Hummus documentary on Amazon Prime…ok, I’m not all the way done yet, but I’ve watched enough to have some opinions…and that’s the first thing that I learned. In the Middle East, they say “houm-as”.
Here are some of my other observations:
There’s a big rivalry about who created hummus. The Lebanese are very adamant that they were first and by this one gentleman’s indignation that it could be someone else, I’m apt to believe them. The Israelis however, aren’t going with it. The battle continues. Whoever’s to thank…thank you.
Apparently, women traditionally don’t make hummus, much less open restaurants dedicated to them. Well, at least according to one of the hummus restaurant proprietors featured in the film. He actually said…out of his mouth…on camera…when he knew people could hear…and were recording him: I don’t believe a woman can make hummus. Maybe a little at home for her husband, but definitely not a restaurant. Whaaaaat?! Well, Suheila al Hindi pops up and shows him.
Speaking of Suheila, she’s really the star of the documentary and I wouldn’t have minded if the entire thing centered around her. She makes one pot of hummus per day and when it’s out, the restaurant closes. It doesn’t matter if you were waiting for an hour, sorry, no hummus for you. The secret to her hummus is a clean restaurant. I’m not making that up. That was her pre-coronavirus answer. She has the restaurant cleaned for 3-4 hours every day. That takes on a special meaning during these times. She was ready for the future and didn’t even know it.
Suheila (I already told you she should have been the star of the documentary, so don’t blame me for having another point about her), persevered for twenty years before getting any recognition for her restaurant. TWENTY YEARS. The restaurant was started by her father. When he passed away unexpectedly her brothers took it over (not surprising given point #1). After they got it into tremendous debt, she took over the responsibility. TWENTY YEARS. That’s all.
I’ll report back when I finish watching the documentary. I had to stop because I started craving Aziza. I’d had one visit, fallen in love with the vibe, food, and cocktails, and then we were quarantined. The next time I step into a restaurant, Aziza might be the place.