150,000 years ago we were hunter-gatherers. In Palestine, we picked nuts, fruit, and wild legumes. In the Spring the green chickpea pods were eaten soft and crisp. The chickpea plant’s leaves were also eaten like a fresh salad.
13.000 ago humans in the Fertile Crescent started planting seeds. Chickpea was one of the first planted legumes in Palestine. With its protein, it became essential in the Shaam region: Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. Experimenting with chickpeas can be traced to the origin of the word ‘Hummus’ in Arabic. The word ‘Hummus’ refers to shrinking, ‘Hummus’ literally means ‘shrunk’. The soaked peas retained their fat shape, and cooked Hummus was eaten as such, or mashed in mortars made from local stone. The Agricultural Revolution kick-started the concept of cuisine and changed the whole world and human life, forever.
Hand-mashed cooked chickpeas in mortars was the way to prepare Hummus every day in Palestine 13.000 years ago until the 1970s; over 13000 years of Palestinian Hummus.
Tahini arrived on the scene a little later. Hummus with Tahini has been at the core and heart of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Syrian cuisine for 800 years.
Via Maris or "way of the sea", was the ancient trade route dating from the early Bronze Age, linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Gaza, a port city on the Mediterranean was a crucial point on this route of commerce and culture. One earlier name of this route was "Way of the Philistines", a reference to a passageway through the Philistine Plain where Gaza was one of the five city states. Being on this route for thousands of years, made Gaza rich not only with imported products, but also with ideas, innovations and different cultures. Culinary historians point to Gaza as the birth place of the Hummus dish that we know today. The combining of mashed cooked chickpeas with sesame paste, Tahini, was developed and created most probably in Gaza. We can thank Gaza every time we have a dish of healthy, protein rich, delicious dish of Hummus.
