In Pinterest this morning, Scott Hilburn’s Argyle Sweater comic strip of 9/25/20:
(#1) This from the creator of the Puns of Steel collections
#1 is a still from a sad tale of chickpeas smashed to death in a cheap Baltimore apartment, an episode of the tv drama Hummuscide: Life on the Street; meanwhile, death strikes down a rich legume in the novel The Great Garbanzo, in which the title character is murdered by a distraught husband. The grand fictions of Cicer arietinum.
chickpeas, garbanzos, hummus. See my 10/13/18 posting “Chic peas and more”, with a section on chickpeas / chick peas (also called garbanzos):
(#2) Lebanese chickpea stew (from my 2016 posting)
Chickpeas/ garbanzos are the basis of the dipspread hummus. On the dipspread, from Wikipedia:
Hummus is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, and garlic. The standard garnish in the Middle East includes olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, parsley, and paprika.
(Meanwhile, there’s a Page on this blog about my postings on Scott Hilburn’s comics.)
May 12, 2024 at 3:09 am |
We have been having a huge argument about hummus on Wikipedia, since 7 October 2023. Of course, it is about whether it is Israeli or Palestinian. It makes me feel so sad.
I found my way here because I was checking the page history of your biography on Wikipedia. Someone said you were gay and Jewish in the first sentence but didn’t source it. Someone else reverted it. I read the current first post on your blog and raised an eyebrow but will not edit your BLP without neutral point of view and reputable sources. Your own blog doesn’t count as one, nor does anything here that I have seen so far (haven’t read much as you are VERY prolific) suggest either to be the case. I am Jewish and female and a widow, so if you’re not gay, maybe stop by and say hello?
May 12, 2024 at 8:09 am |
Several things here, which I can touch on only briefly.
First, an argument about the true origin of a food preparation is silly at best (food customs are freely borrowed and transformed and constantly changing) and wicked at worst (when it’s attached to politics, nationhood, or religion). The first mention of hummus in print is apparently from Syria, but that fact is of no consequence at all; the dish has radiated, in local varieties, throughout the eastern Mediterranean lands (Syria, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, and Greece); it belongs to everyone. (And now it’s spread all over the place, including to my refrigerator.)
As for my being gay (yes; I was the first openly gay president of the Linguistic Society of America 30 years ago) and Jewish (no, but there are good reasons why many people, including a fair number of Jews, take me to be; and I am honored to be so considered, but no, I can’t help to make a minyan; though I take seriously the responsibility to help repair the world).
(I don’t know what BLP means.)
I’m sorry you don’t want to read any of what I have posted ’cause it’s just too much for you to handle (TL; DNR). But you will find, in that great mass of postings (going back decades), not only very detailed reporting of my life and experiences (which you dismiss because it’s not externally validated), but also an elaborate display of evidence on many factual points, including my genealogy (half Swiss, half Pennsylvania Dutch). You will also discover that I’m 83, disabled, housebound, and slowly, unpleasantly, dying from kidney disease (though I still have my wits about me) — not a candidate for dating. (I do have many good female friends, but that’s a classic gay male thing.)