If you are looking for new food ideas that result in meals that are both savory and healthy for you, consider using a recipe with hummus for your next dish. But what is hummus?

Essentially, hummus is a smooth spread that is made from chickpeas, and it is often garnished with paprika, olive oil or parsley that has been chopped. The origins of hummus date back to a recipe for a comparable food from Egypt in the 13th century. The largest plate of hummus ever made was comprised of eight tons of chick peas that had been boiled, two tons of lemon juice, two tons of tahini, and 154 pounds of olive oil, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Today, hummus dip has become very popular and quite ubiquitous in American grocery stores, with a variety of different hummus brands and flavors available. This was not always the case, however. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, when hummus dips started to be sold with more regularity in the United States, they were mainly available in businesses classified as “health food stores.”

Along with its popularity, there have been some points of contention with regard to hummus’s cultural identity. In fact, the Association of Lebanese Industrialists requested that the Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade recognize hummus as a distinctly Lebanese food in October of 2008, thereby giving it a special “protected status” from the European Commission.

If you have additional questions, comments, or recommendations regarding a particular recipe with hummus, be sure to share your thoughts and opinions in the forum below.