Matzah and houmous as a Zionist propaganda snack
I don’t know why I never thought about using a matzah as a delivery system for houmous before!
I looked in my fridge today and saw a mostly-uneaten tub of houmous. Then I looked on my shelf and saw the boxes of matzah I’ve been dreading beginning to dig into. And then it hit me.
First of all, matzah, as it turns out, it pretty much the perfect delivery system for the perfection that is good houmous. Matzah, having no flavor of its own whatsoever, does not detract from the divine flavor of the houmous. Yet, it manages to add a satisfying crunch to each gooey moutful.
But, here’s where this snack gets interesting. When it comes to food, matzah is the symbol par excellence of our freedom for Egypt. And when it comes to food, houmous is the best symbol of our modern national freedom in the State of Israel!
So–Voila!–matzah and houmous is the perfect Passover combo for the culinarily and pedagogically minded Zionist!
SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Eat only with tongue tucked firmly in cheek.
“I don’t know why I never thought about using a matzah as a delivery system for houmous before!”
Because, alas, chickpeas are kitniyot for us Ashkenazim. They’re also one of the things I miss most during Pesach. But you can enjoy them for all of us (ashkenazim) 🙂
Well, miri, in this day and age we have to admit that the Ashkenaz/Sfard distinction is total nonsense. If you’re outside of the Orthodox sphere, whether you’re Conservative or Reform or anywhere on the spectrum of liberal Judaism, you have admit that those geographical distinctions have become arbitrary.
And, to me, beans sure as hell don’t look like bread.
Wasn’t making a geographical distinction, just one of minhag – and the kitniyot thing remains part of mine. So no need to be too ferocious, huh?
Apologize if I came of as ferocious, but you did make a geographic distinction. If you say, “I follow the minhag of not eating kitniyot,” that’s just a discussion of minhag. But you said, “us Ashekanzim,” which is an implication that those of us who can trace our ancestry to central and eastern europe should hold onto this geographically-bound minhag, isn’t?
I’m not trying to be ferocious. I’m only trying to challenge some conventional wisdom.
Tried this today, too. It was awesome.
I used to refrain from kitniyot on pesach but a few years ago took the plunge. now chummus is one of my pesach staples.
Even in the Ashkenazi community-refraining from eating anything Kitniyot related is a recent Humrah/stringency (although some did follow it before).
When I was growing up, Planters Peanut Oil was the only Hechshered oil for Pesach (let us put aside for the moment that some authorities allowed peanuts because they were discovered for human consumption after the Kitniyot ban).
That is to say, those that avoided Kitniyot – nonetheless consumed Kitniyot byproducts.
For the Heter (at least as far as Israel is concerned) go to:
http://responsafortoday.com/eng_index.html
Look at English Summaries, Volume 3.
Need. Good. Hummus.
I always feel a little guilty when I eat Kitniyot, but careful study shows its just a Chumra that “took.” I’m working this year on not feeling guilty.
Shakshuka tonight using a tomato-leek dish as the salate-cuite.
If your diet was mostly fruits and vegetables, you’d find yourself having to give up very little. Maybe there’s a hint here?
If you’re outside of the Orthodox sphere, whether you’re Conservative or Reform or anywhere on the spectrum of liberal Judaism, you have admit that those geographical distinctions have become arbitrary.
I don’t see the connection between the two halves of this sentence. Why should the Orthodox sphere pay more attention to geographical distinctions, and why should the liberal sphere pay less? (If anything, the Orthodox world has seen much homogenization of local customs, through Artscrollization, Moroccans wearing black hats, etc.) I’m a liberal Jew who still doesn’t eat kitniyot (even in Israel).
The two halves of the sentence fit because in the Orthodox world, you’re overwhelmingly likely to be or have become Ashekanzi. I dunno. Ignore me.
Um, I’m sorry, if hummus is a symbol of anything in Israel, its a symbol of cultural appropriation from Arab-Jews and the expulsion and occupation of Palestinians. Please, until you can celebrate passover as symbolic of the liberation of all people, get your f’ing matzah out of the hummus.
Chorus, symbols aren’t so logical as you’re making them out to be. Symbols often do not correspond to what would make the most sense. In the case of diaspora Jews, I think that when we think of houmous, we think of the triumphant culture of modern Israel.
Now, if we would all just go back and read the last sentence of the post, we could all just calm down…
yes, I’m well are of the polysemic nature of symbols. I am also aware that most American Jews think that humus is Israel. They are not wrong on historical or factual grounds, now humus IS Israeli. They are wrong on moral grounds, when they give little though to the way that cultural and material power have created this “Israeli” humus.
“The two halves of the sentence fit because in the Orthodox world, you’re overwhelmingly likely to be or have become Ashekanzi. I dunno. Ignore me.”
except this is incorrect. a) if one is sephardic or mizrahi i think one is more likely to practice orthodox judaism, and b) if one is ashkenazi i think one is more likely to be unaffiliated, reform or conservative.
I think that CoA has a decent point though, which you’re dismissing by the “illogical” nature of symbols. When you see a post with a felafel and an israeli flag sticking out the top of it, you see “the triumphant culture of modern Israel.” But that culture, to another, is a military force that is guilty of appropriating land and culture. CoA’s basic point is that hummus is not a symbol of Israel, it is a symbol of Middle Eastern food. Hummus as a food-staple in this region far precedes the existence of a Jewish state here.
It may sound silly to some, but renaming Arab salad, Israeli salad is very much a part of the occupation. supporting and continuing that cultural appropriation is, in essence, supporting the occupation.
All that being said, hummus on matzah is a tasty treat.
Okay, folks. I was merely trying to point out that, as Justin says, “hummus on matzah is a tasty treat.” I was trying to do it humorously and at the expense (hence the word propaganda in the title and hence the comment at the end of the post about tucking your tongue into your cheek).
If you wanna read about my relatively lefty views on why no one in Israel has any moral high ground any more, go here: http://davidsaysthings.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/gaza-im-gonna-take-a-stand-on-it-for-real-this-time/
I’m not saying that houmous as a symbol is Israel isn’t bad or odd, I’m just saying that it is.
And it wasn’t funny because you all just picked it death. I’m gonna go eat some houmous now.
Actually, you’re going to eat hummus. Screw transliteration and use the universally-accepted English spelling.
Why argue about important things when we could fight about chickpeas?
Hummus sounds good, but after all this, I think I’ll just stick with cream cheese.
The two halves of the sentence fit because in the Orthodox world, you’re overwhelmingly likely to be or have become Ashekanzi.
Nu? In the American Jewish world of any denomination, you’re overwhelmingly likely to be or have become Ashkenazi.
Actually, you’re going to eat hummus. Screw transliteration and use the universally-accepted English spelling.
I distinguish between “hummus” and “chumus” as two different substances. Chumus is what you can actually get in the Middle East (some brands, such as Sabra, are commercially available in the US). Hummus is the American chickpea dip (brands include Tribe).
That was what bugged me about Don’t Mess With the Zohan. The chumus/hummus gags would have been good, but I just couldn’t get past the fact that they involved product placement for Tribe, which no self-respecting Israeli would touch.
Anyway, I suggest that we all compromise on matzah with guacamole.
I can’t blame Israelis in how they market a food to earn a living. If their marketing has successfully pegged Western-sold hummus to Israeli/Mediterranean food, good for them and show me where to buy stock dividends. That is NOT a raping of Arab culture. It is the successful marketing of a food in the West that was practically unheard of until Sabra came along. Believe me, if the Arabs had thought to commercialize matzah balls, they would not be looking back.
I do blame those of you who treat food as a weapon in some cultural propaganda war you feel is being waged on the poor unwashed Arab masses. Food is not a weapon, and it takes a lot of inner anger to treat it as such.
If you want a real cause to fight, I’ll give you one. Among some American Jews, there is a notion that there exists a unique form of “Israeli dance”. In particular, all forms and derivations of debke… whenever I hear a local JCC offering courses in “Israeli dance” I shudder. “Israeli dance” is not authentic Jewish culture. European Jews trained in classical dance came to Israel, saw the Arabs dancing and thought… hmm, I would look really edgy doing that in Paris! I wouldn’t mind, except that now it’s being presented as “Israeli” and “Jewish” dance, which it absolutely is not.
As for what people put in their stomachs… for the next few days, let’s make it authentically Jewish, get yourself a box of Shmurah Matzah!
Does Pizza-Matza count as Jewish appropriation of Italian food culture?
In Canada we now have a duel kosher labeling system for ashken vs sephard.(Blue on white vs white on blue COR)
As I made my way to the checkout I wondered how the clerk at Sobeys would know? My parents came from east european stock but we davened in a east-european sephardic shul does that mean I’m ok to buy the kosher l’pesach creamed corn?
I don’t even like creamed corn
The point is to choose one minhag and stick with it. If you are more of less unaffiliated, it may be easier to choose the minhag that your family or community is more familiar with, and with which you can better identify and hold by.
Think of it as a holistic choice – each minhag represents a unique subset of Jewish law and custom that, as a whole, represent a complete way to approach Jewish life. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, they are all valid, but you should resolve to stick by your decision, regardless of convenience or personal preference.
In the U.S., I would not eat hummus on Pesah that was not homemade in a K-P kitchen. The reason is that you don’t know what goes into commercial hummus here, and The Man refuses to certify anything with kitniyot (even though they let matza ashira through…). OTOH, I would gladly eat hummus (with soft matza) in Israel if it was certified.
BZ, Matza with guac would be seriously culturally appropriating Mexican Jews.
As I made my way to the checkout I wondered how the clerk at Sobeys would know? My parents came from east european stock but we davened in a east-european sephardic shul does that mean I’m ok to buy the kosher l’pesach creamed corn?
In a country with religious freedom like the US or Canada (rather than a theocracy like Israel), it’s none of the clerk’s business. Buy whatever you want.
In the U.S., I would not eat hummus on Pesah that was not homemade in a K-P kitchen.
Happy to report that in the great country of Manhattan you can buy k l’P hummus, rice, beans, etc. that are certified in Israel. Check out Holyland Market if you’re around. Expensive, but oh so happy.
What an awesome thread! Upon making Aliyah in 1989 (member of Garin Gal Hadash, for you Habonim history buffs), I took on R’ Golinkin’s teshuva and began eating kitniyot. Being a vegetarian at the time, it made sense. In the intervening decades, I’ve gone back to eating meat, but I won’t give up kitniyot on Pessach. But this year, visiting my sister in the US, who is stricter about kitniyot (or was until we brought her some of the recent literature), we discovered that she makes all kinds of interesting Pessach dishes that we have given up on. We usually end up eating a lot of rice during Pessach, but many of the traditional foods of Pessach (at least for those who are willing to eat “gebrokt” matzah) have fallen by the wayside as a result.
Another tradition that has fallen by the wayside is that of the Ethiopians – their tradition was to eat nothing that was more than 24 hours from its source during Pessach, with a focus on raw leafy vegetables – eg. what can be found growing at this time of year – that amounts to a 7 day raw-foods cleansing diet. Which would be a pretty good antidote to the 7 day meat and potatoes thing that many strict Ashkenazim have going on!
Simcha, that’s especially interesting regarding the Ethiopians. How cool.
Can I just say that I was stunned that kosher restaurants just up and close over Pesach? In Nebraska and Oregon, there were no kosher restaurants TO close nearby. Crazy. I had to cater a lunch for volunteers — epic fail.
About the cultural appropriation/hummus thread: I totally support cultural appropriation in nearly all it’s forms. But I hate ignorance at the same time, and I think people should appreciate hummus, pita, Israeli salad and Israeli dance for being what they are: borrowed from the neighbors. I just wish they’d appreciate said neighbors a little more.
I’m in South Florida for Pesach, and there are a couple of restaurants who have kashered themselves for Pesach here. But with only three non-chag/Shabbat days, it’s a lot of effort for not a lot of potential profit (unless they’re also catering). I believe there’s some discussion over on chowhound.com of Kosher for Passover restaurants if anyone’s curious where else to find them.
Can I just say that I was stunned that kosher restaurants just up and close over Pesach?
I was more stunned to go to Israel and find out that some kosher restaurants are OPEN for Pesach!
Seriously, all that work for 3 days of uptime?
Count me out!
I’m thinking of financing a new kosher pizza shop in Milwaukee over the next year. It’s a good, high traffic location near a substantial Jewish community, close to a major university. Can anyone recommend exemplary (and profitable) kosher pizza places on the coasts to research and emulate? Preferably those that would be viable even without a substantial Jewish presence (i.e. those that draw large numbers of non-Jewish customers).
I just had some matzah with chumus! (I don’t eat kitniyot during Pesach, but observe Pesach for 7 days; right now I’m in a house that does 8 days and does kitniyot.)
Cultural appropriation/not kitniyot*/not matzah/delicious … I used quinoa in place of bulgar wheat to make a tabouli-style salad, and it was amazing. Not quite a raw food deal, but I used tons of parsley and mint and other vegetables. It was a great antidote to the meat and potatoes and matzah and eggs I’d been eating way too much of, but still really filling. Maybe I’m the last person in the world to think of this, but it was so great I had to share.
*Yes, I know some people consider quinoa kitniyot, and I get the logic of it being kitniyot. But that seems to be a distinctly minority opinion, and I’m generally opposed to adding anything to list.
as an ashkenazic vegan who does NOT eat kitniyot, but does eat non-hekshered products (such as coconut milk and organic jam), this passover was probably one of the best food weeks of my life. many chocolate coconut banana almond shakes, cashew butter and jelly for breakfast, potato beet quinoa stews…and salad salad salad. my goal was to eat one avocado a day (i was in california after all); some days i had two. snack on some dried fruit and pumpkin seeds and i was all set. woohoo! freedom!