Lebanese chefs load up with falafel
Day after firing 10-ton hummus broadside in a food fight with Israel, more than 300 chefs in Lebanon weighed in with another first for Guinness record– five tons of deep-fried patty popular in many parts of Middle East
More than 300 chefs mixed a ton of chickpeas with an equal portion of broad beans, adding onions, garlic, coriander, onion, pepper and cumin to concoct 5,173 kilos (11,381 pounds) of falafel, a deep-fried patty popular in Lebanon and many parts of the Middle East.
With a Guinness World Records representative at hand to record the feat, organizers said it was the first time any country had tried to set such a high-frying falafel record.
On Saturday, Lebanon claimed another victory in its continuing battle with Israel over which country can make the largest plate of the chickpea delicacy hummus – with a 10-ton platter.
More than 300 chefs in Beirut set the new record for hummus, which the Lebanese say is their national dish despite Israeli claims, in the presence of a Guinness World Records representative who confirmed its weight at 10,452 kilos (22,994 pounds).
5,173 kilos of falafel (Photo: AFP)
In January, 50 chefs in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh near Jerusalem mashed up more than four tons of hummus, beating the record set in Lebanon just months previously.
Hummus is a dip made of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.
The hummus and falafel salvo came amid a gastronomic fight between two countries still technically at war.
Falafel, like hummus and tabbouleh (chopped tomato, onion, parsley, bruised grain salad), are the objects of a cultural quarrel between Israel and Lebanon.
Israel exports hummus widely, and is accused of claiming an Arab dish as its own. Lebanon set the tabbouleh record last year.
