Could hummus bring peace to the Middle East?
One of the oldest-known prepared foods in human history, hummus is claimed by multiple Middle Eastern nationalities. So when director Trevor Graham, a self-described hummus tragic, learned of a 2008 Lebanese plan to sue Israel for acting as if it had proprietary rights over the dish, he was intrigued and hungry for more. With Israel, Lebanon and Palestine fighting once again – over who ‘owns’ the hummus heritage – he set off on a personal journey into a colourful culinary history.
More than a culinary journey, to taste delicious hummus, Graham has a quest to find some answers; who owns hummus, and who, Jew or Arab, has the most mouth watering secret recipe? Are people who adore the same food, destined to share the same fate? Graham ponders a whacky proposition…could a regional love of hummus be the long yearned for solution to peace in the Middle East?
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Make Hummus Not War is now available to watch online at
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Make Hummus Not War – Published Reviews
Culturally complex and disarmingly funny
FilmInk, Rebecca Butterworth
Hummus is an entertaining combination of interview footage and animated sequences that reflect on Graham’s personal journey with food and love. Often quite candid, and with a jovial, almost comical narration style that keeps the film light, Graham interviews Israeli and Palestinian government officials, restaurant owners and hummus lovers about the origins and significance of the dish.
The most surprising element of the film is that it actually has something significant to say about the decades old conflict between nations. By using the hummus issue as a foil, Graham is able to comment about the seemingly unsolvable and sometimes even farcical element of the argument itself, and gets it in under the radar.
Read full review here
A new Australian documentary gets to the heart of the delicious, surprisingly divisive, origins of hummus
Broadsheet, Hayley Inch
A documentary filmmaker and self-confessed hummus tragic, Graham became fascinated with the conflict surrounding the origins of hummus and decided to conduct his own investigation by travelling to the Middle East and speaking to Palestinian, Israeli and Lebanese hummus lovers and makers in an attempt to answer the question as to who owns hummus. Says Graham, “My main intention was to look at the situation in the Middle East through the prism of food.”
Read the full review here
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