{"id":1079,"date":"2025-08-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/?p=1079"},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T10:49:16","slug":"culture-appropriation-never-used-to-bother-me-hummus-changed-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/17\/culture-appropriation-never-used-to-bother-me-hummus-changed-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture appropriation never used to bother me \u2014 hummus changed everything"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n\t\t\"Amro\t<\/div>
It\u2019s not just hummus; it\u2019s history, belonging, and pride (Picture: Marcellus de Lemos\/N18 ART STUDIO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Walking down the supermarket<\/a> aisle, I stopped in my tracks. <\/p>\n

An entire shelf stacked with all kinds of wild, colourful hummus<\/a>. Green hummus with avocado. Brown hummus with chocolate. Red hummus with harissa. Marmite hummus. Truffle hummus.  <\/p>\n

It was endless \u2013 and deeply unsettling. I genuinely felt shaken and that emotion caught me off guard. <\/p>\n

I picked up the phone and called my mother in Jordan<\/a>, who proudly claims to make the best hummus. As soon as I heard her voice, I started sobbing. <\/p>\n

She heard me sniffling and, in true tough-love fashion, said, \u2018Ah, you must\u2019ve caught a cold from that British weather?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, Mama,\u2019 I mumbled. \u2018Just a cold.\u2019 I couldn\u2019t bring myself to verbalise my shock and disgust because I didn\u2019t yet have the words to describe it. <\/p>\n

I do now, though. My mind couldn\u2019t wrap itself around the idea that my culture \u2013 hummus \u2013 was being culturally appropriated<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It makes me sick. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amro\t<\/div>
Mum was right \u2013 her hummus was the best of all (Picture: Amro Tabari)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I grew up in Jordan but my family is actually from Palestine. Before I was born, they were forced to flee<\/a> in 1948 and we became refugees. <\/p>\n

Despite this, I had a happy childhood with my parents and older sister. Throughout it all, hummus was a staple. <\/p>\n

In fact, we\u2019d have it as a family every Friday as part of a breakfast ritual. Mum would make it from scratch and we\u2019d sit around the table sharing it. <\/p>\n

When I turned 18 and started driving, I\u2019d bring home plates of it from different places we called \u2018hummuseries\u2019. With loud music and windows down, it felt comforting to have a warm hummus plate on the passenger seat. <\/p>\n

My mother would critique them all, comparing it to hers. And I was inclined to agree \u2013 hers was the best of all. <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amro\t<\/div>
If there\u2019s no chickpea, it\u2019s not hummus. It\u2019s just a dip (Picture: Amro Tabari)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It wasn\u2019t until I moved to the UK in 2013 to pursue a Master\u2019s Degree in Renewable Energy that I began to see hummus through a different lens. <\/p>\n

In supermarkets, I was stunned: all different types of hummus \u2018fusions\u2019 \u2013 many without chickpeas at all. <\/p>\n

The thing is, the word hummus literally means chickpea in Arabic. If there\u2019s no chickpea, it\u2019s not hummus. It\u2019s just a dip. <\/p>\n

Sure, culinary innovation is great. But sometimes what looks like fusion is actually confusion<\/a> \u2014 or worse, erasure. This is something I learnt almost by accident. <\/p>\n

During Halloween in 2014 \u2014 a celebration I\u2019ve never really been a fan of \u2014 a friend of mine told me she\u2019d been called out for wearing a Native American<\/a> costume. Apparently, it was considered cultural appropriation.  <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amro\t<\/div>
I try to share my authentic hummus with anyone and everyone I meet (Picture: Amro Tabari)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was genuinely confused. \u2018Wait,\u2019 I said, \u2018isn\u2019t cultural appropriation a good thing? Like, you\u2019re celebrating and appreciating another culture?\u2019 <\/p>\n

She shook her head and explained: \u2018Not exactly. Cultural appropriation is when members of one culture \u2014 usually a dominant one \u2014 adopt elements of another culture, often without permission or any understanding of its significance or history. There\u2019s usually a power imbalance and it often leads to misrepresentation.\u2019 <\/p>\n

And that\u2019s when it all hit me. The reason I felt so shocked in that supermarket aisle was because I was lamenting what had become of my culture. My hummus. <\/p>\n

To me, hummus isn\u2019t just a recipe; it\u2019s an identity rooted in the Levant, long before modern political borders were drawn.  <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amro\t<\/div>
Sure, culinary innovation is great. But sometimes what looks like fusion is actually confusion \u2013 or worse, erasure (Picture: Amro Tabari)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Once I realised how far hummus had been taken from its roots, I turned to a Lebanese-Palestinian friend of mine and asked for his mother\u2019s recipe because I heard from him how legendary it was (I had never needed to make hummus before this because I could have easily got it from local sources in Jordan). <\/p>\n

My friend obliged. So I made it and eventually perfected it. <\/p>\n

Now I try to share my authentic hummus with anyone and everyone I meet \u2013 and they love it. <\/p>\n

In Brighton, where I live, caf\u00e9 baristas, flower shop owners, food critics, and even fellow amateur theatre actors have all tried it. They all listen to me when I tell them about the history of hummus, what it means to me, and what it means to my family. <\/p>\n

I have even made huge pots of it and brought it to pro-Palestine marches<\/a> with me. Whenever I offer my hummus to people, they often ask me: \u2018What\u2019s your secret?\u2019 <\/p>\n

\u2018Palestinian love,\u2019 I reply with a smile. <\/p>\n

Soon enough, people started calling me the \u2018Hummus Guy\u2019. So I\u2019ve embraced it \u2013 and my mission to spread authentic hummus across the world.  <\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Amro\t<\/div>
Soon enough, people started calling me the \u2018Hummus Guy\u2019. So I\u2019ve embraced it (Picture: Marcellus de Lemos\/N18 ART STUDIO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hummus shows up at every Levantine breakfast table. It tells stories across generations. <\/a><\/p>\n

When it\u2019s commercialised without context or origin, something sacred is lost. It feels that hummus is colonised, butchered, brutalised \u2013 even the pronunciation of the word itself feels foreign.   <\/p>\n

These \u2018hummus fusions\u2019 aren\u2019t inherently evil \u2014 they\u2019re just mislabelled and misguiding. If it\u2019s a beetroot dip, call it a beetroot dip. <\/p>\n

When heritage is repackaged and resold \u2013 especially while communities tied to it are struggling \u2013 it becomes an insult. It\u2019s not just hummus; it\u2019s history, belonging, and pride.  <\/p>\n

If I can protect this one small piece of culture, I will. <\/p>\n

At the end of the day, I would like supermarkets to be true to actual ingredients and local recipes of hummus. Stop the cultural appropriation. <\/p>\n

I can make sure people know where it comes from. And that matters. It matters to me.  <\/p>\n

So yes, I\u2019m on a mission. I\u2019m here to free the hummus. <\/p>\n

Do you have a story you\u2019d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Share your views in the comments below.<\/strong><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\tComment now<\/title><\/span><br \/>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"comment-now__label\">Comments<\/span><br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s not just hummus; it\u2019s history, belonging, and pride (Picture: Marcellus de Lemos\/N18 ART STUDIO) Walking down the supermarket aisle, I stopped in my tracks.  An entire shelf stacked with all kinds of wild, colourful hummus. Green hummus with avocado. Brown hummus with chocolate. Red hummus with harissa. Marmite hummus. Truffle hummus.   It was endless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1079"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1088,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1079\/revisions\/1088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.answerla.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}