Israel at 57: the culinary side

This amazing article in Haaretz analyzes "the symbolic national spread of the Jews": chumus. (Well, they transliterate it "hummus", but bless them, they don't have to live with the hummus/chumus dichotomy.) The history of commercial chumus is discussed -- who knew that packaged chumus dates back only to 1994, and the Tzabar brand (Sabra Salads in the US) only to 1999?! There is also discussion of the deeper cultural implications of chumus: "Is the Jewish attitude toward hummus tainted by culinary colonialism, or does it rather signify integration into the region?"