Food festivals are a wonderful place to be. So many countries represented by their national foods: pasta being served at the Italy stall, the Japanese contingent handing out sample-sized sushi, and the Greeks racing to prep souvlaki for the long line-up at their table. Some people paused in front of the Israeli stall. Their eyes were focused on a long list titled ‘National Foods of Israel’ which had been posted atop the tent. It included bagels, matzoh balls, challah, schnitzel and hummus.

Hummus!? The food dip made with mashed chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, salt and garlic? And which is in fact the Arabic word for chickpeas — that hummus? The earliest recorded recipe for this healthy and filling side dish dates back to 13th century Egypt which was at the time ruled by the Ayyubid dynasty founded by Salahuddin. The Mamluks toppled the Ayyubids around mid-century, but hummus fever went on unabated. Sometimes garnished with sumac, olives or pickles, it has been a staple food throughout the Arab world, Turkey and North Africa for hundreds of years and is now be found in households throughout Europe and North America. Hummus was very likely introduced to the new nation of Israel in 1948 by Sephardic Jews who arrived there from various regions of the former Ottoman Empire. So to claim it as its national food is a bit presumptious. It’s bad enough to steal your neighbours’ land, don’t start occupying their culinary history too.

The Israeli appropriation of Hummus as a ‘national food’ is chutzpah of the highest order, but there’s a lot of that going around ...

As it turns out, hummus is not the only food that has provoked political and nationalistic sensitivities. Several other sweet and savoury items have made international headlines due to the fact that nations and their governments are embroiled in disputes over them.

The fetid feud over feta

Last year Canada’s free trade negotiations with the European Union almost hit a snag when it refused to take Canadian-made feta cheese off its list of exports. Otherwise, Greek officials insisted, Canada must call its cheese “feta-style” or “feta-like” and cannot use Greek letters or symbols in the packaging.

Within Europe the tangy white, crumbly cheese made from goat or sheep milk has been a geographical indication (GI) protected product since 2002. This means that in order to be labelled feta it must have been produced in the traditional way in Greece. Along with Kalamata olives and olive oil, feta cheese is an essential ingredient of Greek food. Whether sprinkled over salads and cooked rice, or used as a filling in sandwiches, baked pies and omelettes, the classic feta is forever present in the Greek kitchen. High-quality feta has a creamy texture and strong aromas of ewe’s milk, yogurt and butter. Its taste is slightly sour and mildly salty.

In the end Canadian negotiators had to capitulate to the demand. Now the EU is expected to make similar demands from American negotiators regarding parmesan and gorgonzola cheese that are produced in the US.

Baklava brawl

When baklava was chosen to represent Cyprus in the cultural initiative called Café Europe in 2006, an announcement came from across the border that “Baklava is Turkish; we will not allow the Greek Cypriots to feed it to the world.”

Every Greek and Turkish restaurant of repute features baklava on its dessert menu. So did the Greeks invent it or was it the Turks? Historical evidence proves that it was neither. Around 8th century BCE, cooks in the Assyrian empire, which included present-day Cyprus, Iran, Egypt, Arabian Peninsula, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan, began layering chopped nuts with a simple unleavened flat bread and drenching it with honey. This sweet dish was considered a luxury reserved only for kings.

The Ottoman Turks get credit for providing the environment for baklava to be finessed and developed to become the scrumptious dessert that we all know and love today. It was in the kitchens of the Topkapi Palace that Armenians integrated cinnamon and cloves into it for the first time, while Arabs introduced rose-water and cardamom to the recipe. The major contribution of the Greeks to baklava was also made in the kitchens in Istanbul. They created the technique that allowed dough to be rolled paper-thin, instead of the thicker, bread-like texture in the original Assyrian version. So while the name ‘baklava’ entered English from Turkish, the name ‘phyllo’ (meaning leaf) for its dough comes from Greek. All this harmonious labour of love was forgotten by the baklava warriors.

Fiery for kimchi

In case you have never eaten kimchi, it’s a traditional Korean spicy and sour side dish made with vegetables and seasonings. One could perhaps compare with our very own achaar, but the love for kimchi among Koreans is beyond any comparison. During South Korea’s involvement in the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson was informed by his Korean counterpart that kimchi was “vitally important to the morale of Korean troops” so it had to be provided to them on the fields. Kimchi also accompanied the first Korean astronaut, Yi So-Yeon on her space flight in 2008. Even today, according to the IMF, Koreans consume nearly 1.8 million tonnes of it each year.

An excellent way to preserve the vitamins and minerals in vegetables for the long winter months, kimchi was first conceived of around the 7th century. The Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592 brought along with it hot red pepper flakes which give kimchi its now distinctive fiery colour and flavour. But tensions erupted in 2006 when the expansion of Japanese food companies into the kimchi export market started to seriously affect Korean businesses. The export numbers of cheaper-made Japanese “kimuchi” has surpassed those of traditionally-prepared Korean kimchi.

But even this second Japanese invasion pales in comparison to the damage wrought by the Chinese assault. As manufacturers in China push themselves further into the world kimchi market, not only has the value of South Korea’s overall exports fallen dramatically but more and more of locally consumed kimchi is turning out to be made in China. Even though individuals and households disdain to buy the cheaper foreign version, Korean hotels and restaurants are serving it to unknowing customers in order to cut cost.

Steaming over basmati

The case has been simmering since 1997 when the Texas-based company RiceTec was granted a patent on the production of basmati rice in North America. India, the world’s largest exporter of basmati rice, immediately reacted seeing this move as a threat to the future of its considerable rice export market. Indian officials further argued that the name ‘basmati’ which is derived from Sanskrit words meaning ‘the one containing aroma’ should be used only for rice grown in the traditional basmati-growing region of India.

In 2009 India filed a geographical indication (GI) application to protect the distinctive identity of basmati grown in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and parts of Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The state of Madhya Pradesh raised objection with state officials arguing that its rice-growing areas also deserved to be included in the GI tag. So despite the reservations of basmati purists, the application was amended to include parts of Madhya Pradesh in January 2014.

Recently Pakistani basmati growers have entered the fray saying that the traditional basmati-yielding areas also include regions in Pakistan. To support their appeal they have quoted from renowned Punjabi poet Waris Shah’s seminal work Heer Ranjha written in 1766. Considered one of the greatest works of classical Punjabi literature, it mentions basmati growing in locations in the Punjab of those days that are now within the territorial jurisdiction of Pakistan. There is nothing like a good poetic turn to stir up the rice pot.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 26th, 2014