Culture, Global, Israel, Mishegas

And now for something totally ridiculous

I wanted to write something witty about the parallels of chauvinism and machismo in the Middle East and professional kitchens but I just am totally baffled by the fact that Lebanon and Israel are fighting each other by cooking obscene amounts of falafel.

Lebanese chefs load up with falafel for Israel food fight
(AFP)

BEIRUT — A day after firing a 10-tonne hummus broadside in a food fight with Israel, chefs in Lebanon weighed in with another first for a Guinness record on Sunday — five tonnes of falafel.
More than 300 chefs mixed a ton of chickpeas with an equal portion of broad beans, adding onions, garlic, coriander, onion, pepper and cumin to concoct 5,173 kilos (11,381 pounds) of falafel, a deep-fried patty popular in Lebanon and many parts of the Middle East.
With a Guinness World Records representative at hand to record the feat, organisers said it was the first time any country had tried to set such a high-frying falafel record.
On Saturday, Lebanon claimed another victory in its continuing battle with Israel over which country can make the largest plate of the chickpea delicacy hummus — with a 10-tonne platter.
More than 300 chefs in Beirut set the new record for hummus, which the Lebanese say is their national dish despite Israeli claims, in the presence of a Guinness World Records representative who confirmed its weight at 10,452 kilos (22,994 pounds).
In January, 50 chefs in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem mashed up more than four tonnes of hummus, beating the record set in Lebanon just months previously.
Hummus is a dip made of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.
The hummus and falafel salvo came amid a gastronomic fight between two countries still technically at war.
Falafel, like hummus and tabbouleh (chopped tomato, onion, parsley, bruised grain salad), are the objects of a cultural quarrel between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel exports hummus widely, and is accused of claiming an Arab dish as its own. Lebanon set the tabbouleh record last year.

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