Warm chickpeas pureed with tahini, lemon and garlic, spooned into a shallow bowl with olive oil, whole chickpeas and pita for scooping, the everyday lunch at Tel Aviv's hummusias.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
A chickpea puree appears in a 13th-century Aleppo cookbook, though tahini and garlic entered the recipe later, recorded in an 1885 Lebanese cookbook. The dish was already a Levantine staple when Tel Aviv's hummus counters opened: the Yemenite family behind Shlomo and Doron has made it since 1937, and Ali Karavan, known as Abu Hassan, sold it from a Jaffa cart from 1959 before opening his HaDolfin Street shop in 1972. Israeli industrial production from 1958 turned hummus into a packaged supermarket product, but the city's hummusias still serve it the older way, warm from the pot with whole chickpeas and a slick of olive oil, eaten at a shared counter until the pot empties for the day.
Common allergens: Sesame, Gluten
Tip from the editors. Blend the chickpeas while they are still hot; cold chickpeas make a grainy, heavy puree instead of an airy one.
Abu Hassan on HaDolfin Street in Jaffa serves hummus and the ful triangle plate in the shop Ali Karavan opened in 1972, after selling from a cart since 1959.
TryHummus, ful and msabbaha triangle plate
TipArrive by noon; the hummus sells out most afternoons and the counter shuts for the day the moment it does.
Hummus Abu Adham on Karlibach Street has served hand made hummus in Tel Aviv since 2003, prepared daily by founders Ron and Yehuda without preservatives.
OrderA bowl of Mashwasha hummus with warm pita straight from the counter.
TipOrder the mashwasha, the house specialty, and eat it warm; the counter closes at 18:00.
Shlomo and Doron on Yishkon Street in Tel Aviv is a Yemenite family hummus counter dating to 1937, now run by its fourth generation and shut by mid-afternoon.
Why locals goA four-generation Yemenite family hummus counter tucked into the lanes of Kerem HaTeimanim, just off the Carmel Market bustle.
TipCome for an early lunch; the counter closes by mid-afternoon, and fourth-generation Elad adds new hummus dishes to the classics.
Shemaya in Tel Aviv-Yafo simmers overnight Middle Eastern stews and slow-cooked hummus in a tiny Florentin storefront that most tourists walk past.
Why locals goShemaya is a one-man kitchen in a modest Florentin storefront; the slow-cooked hummus is gone by early afternoon most days and never remade.
TipCome before 13:00 for the hummus; once the pot empties for the day, the kitchen moves on to the evening stews.
More cities are in research. Want hummus covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.
