Hummus the Movie (2015) - full transcript

In hummus, I think
every person you ask,

Jewish, Arab, it doesn't matter
from where he is in the world,

if he wants hummus
he wants specific hummus.

I start with the Koran
and I light the incense.

That's the first thing I do
in the morning.

Hummus is very good
for the monks.

It's organic,

and it's also without meat

so it's... maybe better.

Tahini is the basis
of the hummus.

If the tahini is not good,
the hummus is not good.



Check out this tahini.

It's amazing.

Hummus... It's not normal,
it's not something ordinary.

It's magic.

Thank God, on a normal day,
I prepare one pot.

But on the weekend I make more.
Thank God.

It's hummus,
everyone likes hummus,

everyone likes hummus,
everyone loves hummus.

It is what
brings people in,

and after that they see
it's not about hummus.

Hummus. -Hummus.

Hummus. -Hummus.

Today, hummus in the U.S.
is in 25% of the households.

What is hummus? It's delicious.



I think it's made from
some kind of peas...?

People, when they eat together,

they scream: "Jim-jim-jim,"
something like that?

Nutrition-wise, everybody knows
now that chickpeas are

actually a super-food.

In Virginia, many farmers,
they change their harvest

from tobacco to chickpeas.

It's chickpeas. Mushed.

It's a mousse?

Chickpeas.

Chickpeas.

Chickpeas and tahini...

Here we say "revithia"
in Greece.

Who is that?
-Honey, that's Carol.

Carol, love her.

Not you, the hummus.

There is a big dispute
where it comes from.

Israel? -Pakistan?
-It's Greek?

Chinese? -Spain?

I know it's like, an Indian food.

Iraq. -Arabian, Mediterranean...
area.

Everyone claims it's from
a different country

but I know it's from
the Middle East.

Very diplomatic, right?

If you want to go
from the center to the north

there's nothing kosher to eat on
the way but "Seven Eleven" stuff.

This is the only kosher place.

I'm lucky, I'm the lucky guy.

Eliyahu, a small salad
for table 8.

"Happy is the man who follows
not the advice of the wicked,

"nor stands in the ways of sinners."

Every day before I touch the hummus
in the morning

I say a little prayer.
-Hummus number one.

Here you go, brother.

We have fava beans,
chickpeas, tahini, eggs,

or "the complete," that's everything together.

To make hummus you need to take
the hummus (chickpeas)

and put it in water for 15 hours,
more or less.

In the morning I check it
that there are no worms in it, every one.

And after checking it there's a
special blender here...

mix it, cut it,
and I make every plate on the spot.

Now speak about your employees.
Speak about your employees.

He's right. This is Shauli.
This is the special weapon.

I have long tables

so people sit with people
that they don't even know

and they eat together,

they start talking and stuff
and everything starts to get mixed.

Sometimes you see a rabbi
sitting with a soldier,

and a hi-tech guy with a lawyer,

and a truck driver and stuff,
and they're all talking,

they're all happy.

And they're passing the pita,
passing the salt,

and they become friends.

What's up, brother?

Chickpeas, fava beans, tahini,
egg, vegetables?

Something tasty.

OK, something tasty.
I've got you covered.

First time here, no?
-First time.

First time? -Yeah.

Welcome, bro.

We love people here.

Welcome, bro.
Thank you.

There's a bottle opener on the cart.
-I was just telling her

I open bottles with my ring.

The Christians are actually in the middle,

between the Jews and Muslims.

The Jews,

when they talk about Arabs
they don't talk about the Christians,

they talk about the Muslims.

And the Muslims, for them,

Christians are actually not Arabs.

I was born in Israel so I'm an Israeli,

but my roots are Palestinian.

And my nationality is Arabic.

You know how many times people
ask me how I describe myself?

And every time it's different.

Sometimes I'm more Arabic
than Christian,

sometimes I'm more Christian
than Arabic,

sometimes I'm more
Palestinian than Israeli,

sometimes I'm more Israeli
than Palestinian.

Everything okay?

How are you man?
-How many are you?

Four.

Ramle has the best hummus in Israel,
believe me.

We sell cheap, we sell clean,
we sell good.

There are one or two
hummus restaurants around.

They make hummus, fava beans, msabbaha.

We don't, we make everything,

even stuffed vegetables.

This is my father, Samir.
He's the owner of this restaurant,

and he is like 72 years old,
and he works here 65, 60 years.

I am here since I was 13.
-13.

You've been making hummus since
you were 13?

Hummus and everything else.
I prepare everything.

This is traditional food,
for many generations.

I worked with my father.

I skipped school,

didn't feel like studying.

I came to work.

I will call you, I promise.

It's worth waiting,
I promise, it's worth the wait.

Hummus is the beginning.
It's not the main dish.

You eat hummus with tahini,
hummus with fava beans,

hummus with chicken,
hummus with meat,

hummus with...
a lot of stuff.

But hummus is the basis.

We're here in this area of Lod

and Jaffa and Ramle for 700 years.

This is the tree of the Dabit family.

I'm here, my name is Jalil,
so I'm here,

and this is my grandfather,
Abu Fouzi.

He established
this restaurant in 1948.

Sharon, you're next, okay?

You get the next
available table for 7.

Jalil, he works day and night.

He is responsible for everything.

He is my successor.

I have three more sons,
but they are not continuing.

I'm a Muslim from Acre,
my name is Suheila, I'm 50.

Not married, single,

self-employed. Thank God.

It's a simple recipe,
all my clients can see how I prepare.

But, how to say it,
maybe it's my love for the work.

That's why it comes out delicious.

Bilal, did you clean table number 5?

Is the falafel I requested ready?

You see he's cleaning,
why are you bothering him?

The secret to my hummus
is keeping everything clean,

cleanliness, cleanliness.

Cleaning women come
for three hours every day.

Three-and-a-half, four hours

until everything's spotless.

Every corner.

Chairs, tables,

shelves, walls.

Floors.
-Everything.

They took lab samples

and the person in charge
came to me and said:

"What is this, an operating room?"

Thank God.

This is the hummus,
the pot is empty.

We will close up the shop
and say goodbye.

When the hummus is finished

our day is done.

Thank God.

The customers are still coming.

They can't believe it,

they want to eat,
they can't believe it's finished.

I make one day's worth at a time.

The hummus is finished,
they are out of luck.

That's it.

I have another 2 hours
of work at home.

Laundry, dishes,

cleaning.

It's like this every day,
then I pass out.

She's all grown up, she's 45.

Yeah right, 25.

I grew up here with her
yelling at me all the time.

I give her orders.
Doesn't she know?

Bye.
-Good night.

Good night. See you tomorrow.

God willing.

We are here in the center
of a Muslim village.

And here there is a coexistence
between Muslims, Jews

and Christians.

This village of Abu Gosh is very known,

very famous because of the hummus.

I think you have at least
20 restaurants in the village.

I was sent to Abu Gosh,

so I've been here for more
than 36 years.

Hi, how are you?
-Hello. -Hello.

According to the rule of St. Benedict,

which was written
at the beginning of the 6th century,

every monk has to cook,

and each week another monk is cooking,

and I think this is very dangerous.

Once I cooked, it was really terrible,

and the brothers told me they
don't want me in the kitchen anymore.

Well, today
we are not observing the rules,

and when it is my turn
to go to the kitchen

I think they prefer
eating hummus Abu Gosh.

The Israelis now are claiming
that hummus is part of their tradition,

it's a traditional Israeli dish,
blah-blah-blah-blah.

We wanted the world to know
that this is not true.

We've been eating hummus
for a few hundred years.

We want the world to know
that it's part of our cuisine,

of our tradition, of our society,

and calling it Israeli
is simply not fair.

I get very, very upset when I see
some of the British and the Germans,

they're mixed up now.

"Hummus" sounds a bit Greek,
so they call it a Greek dip.

I mean, we baked bread

4000-5000 years B.C.

where in Europe
they didn't have any culture,

they were eating each other.

As a Guinness World
Records judicator

I need to be prepared to
adjudicate anything worldwide.

And largest serving of hummus
is a fairly bizarre record,

first set in New York in 2006.

362 kg (approx. 800 lb),

which was then, in 2010,
bettered to just over 2 tons (4410 lb).

The end product
needs to be recognizably hummus.

As long as it includes
chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini,

salt, garlic, olive oil,

then we're happy with that.

And Lebanon,
they managed a staggering

just over 2.000 kg
that first time I went there.

We thought of the idea of
breaking the Guinness Book of Records

of the largest platter of hummus
in the world. We did it.

The whole idea was to tell the
world that hummus is strictly Lebanese.

Some of the Jews
who used to live in Palestine

consumed hummus as we did,

but this does not make hummus

in any way or form
an Israeli traditional dish.

The nature of record-breaking though,

as soon as a new record is broken,

the publicity that generates means
that somebody somewhere else in the world

will more than likely want to challenge it.

It was on TV,
I saw this on CNN.

and I saw the tourism minister
speaking about hummus.

And they said:
Hummus has to be Lebanese

because it's a Lebanese things, you know?

Like champagne,

you cannot call it anyway "champagne"

unless you buy it from Champagne in France.

I grew up with hummus,

everybody ate hummus,
Middle Eastern hummus all over.

And I say, no, I don't agree.
If they make 2.000, I want to make 4.000.

This came out of the blue.
They asked me,

"Would you like to go to Israel
and to judge the largest serving of hummus?"

So of course I accepted.

Hummus Eliyahu at Yokneam.

Aluf Abir is like a father,
he's like a teacher,

he's a mentor,
he's a rabbi,

he's my teacher of martial arts.

He is always available for me,
everytime I call,

he picks up the phone, he talks to me.

And I love him.

I'm actually a grand master

of a fighting system
which was handed down from father to son

over many, many generations
for thousands of years.

What the world calls a martial artist.

Eliyahu Shmueli came to me
quite a few years ago now

when I began teaching
Abir Keshet Hebrew Warrior Arts

in Tel-Aviv.

He had long dreadlocks

and his head was shaved Bert and
Ernie, like a Sesame Street haircut.

The guy had tattoos all over him.

And a lot of the people
that came to check out "Abir,"

were people who were
basically fans of mine,

whom I had
influenced musically,

because I was the person who
basically started the

ragamuffin, raga-hip-hop,

rap culture in Hebrew.

Who doesn't like Middle Eastern food?

Egyptian Ful, Persian rice.

Falafel, tabule, turkish salad,
Iraqi Pita.

Hummus, to me, represents the
national food of the Middle East.

Well then you have to
start thinking,

and I started thinking about
what is the main common denominator

that makes everybody here stupid,
so I decided it

must be the hummus.

hummus makes you stupid,
hummus makes you stupid...

The common denominator which makes
all the people in the Middle East stupid

must be the fact that they all
start their day by eating

that stuff that looks like
C4 explosives, you know?

I was selling jewelry in Japan.

In Australia I had a store
in the market of toys,

and then I worked in petrol stations.

I was working in Israel on a garbage truck,

I was training camels.
I spent a while in Sinai, Egypt,

and I was just looking for a spot
where I can feel good,

fine and happy.

I took him to a place, first of all,
in his mind

that he was not in touch with.

I took him to a place in his heart
also that he was not in touch with.

And I took him to a place in his soul
that he really wasn't in touch with.

As soon as I became religious,
every day, day by day,

my life started to get better.

Hi, good morning.
-Good morning.

How are you?
-How are you, buddy?

Nihad, what do you want for
breakfast?

The usual?

The usual.
-Hummus with Fava beans on top?

Or beans with hummus on top?
-With beans on top. -Okay.

Enjoy.
You changed your order.

This time it's hummus
with fava beans, not beans with hummus.

How are you? -Fine.

I heard you're going to put together
parties, concerts.

Not parties, concerts.
Acoustic rock concerts.

The restaurant isn't only about hummus.

And the food here isn't just
fava beans and meat.

I want Arabs and Jews to get together
and get along.

That means a lot to me.

Nice. -Nice.

How are the Fava beans?
-Delicious, thanks.

Lianne wants us to go to Berlin

to do her PhD.

I'll go with her but I'll stay
on the Berlin-Ramle line.

If you leave, who'll work here?

Who'll carry on the tradition?

Because if Dad, God forbid,
stops working, you'll have to take over.

And who'll help Dad? Who'll carry on
the tradition of the restaurant?

Alon?

I'm 32 years old
and I really haven't decided

what I want to do
when I grow up.

Hummus is men's food?
-Definitely.

Traditionally?
-Yes.

You won't find a woman
in a restaurant in Acre.

Everything is men.
We make the salad,

make the hummus, serve the people,

cleaning...

We have no working women here.

Only where the woman can't be seen.

A woman is going
to open her own restaurant?

She won't do it on her own.

That's right. You think my wife
would open her own restaurant?

What?

And here comes the moment we've
all been waiting for all evening:

We want to know

who is Israel's hummus genius?

I want to call up

the three finalists,

one of whom
is Israel's hummus genius.

I went to Acre for the hummus contest.

Chefs came to see
whose hummus was the best.

Suheila was there,
all the hummus restaurants were there.

Sami Abu Shukri from Abu Gosh

versus Suheila
representing the city of Acre.

Who is Israel's hummus genius?

I don't believe
a woman can make hummus.

She can make a little hummus
for her husband, at home.

In first place,

Israel's new King of Hummus,
the hummus genius...

I won the first place!

Suheila from Acre!

You're the big winner!

Suheila, is your life about to change?

Sure, more clients too.

The Golden Pita. Oy, oy, oy.

This is Israel's new Queen of Hummus.

Acre!
-Suheila's Hummus.

Bilal, how much bread do we have?

Since the contest she hardly
leaves the restaurant,

she doesn't travel abroad,
she doesn't go...

She doesn't even leave Acre.

Suheila, on Tuesday, for your day off,

we're going on a trip to Jerusalem
with a tour guide.

We haven't been there in ages.

Thank God we can take a trip.
-Good.

Table for five.
-You can sit at the first table.

Here? -Yes.

Mom, me, Miriam and my brother.

And this is me and Suheila
and Miriam.

This is me and my late husband

a long time ago, 40 years ago.

He worked here from 1960 until 1982.

The counter was here,

a marble counter.

Ali, table 8.

Did you take the pickles?
Take some fries, too.

She worked with him.

I was younger, she was older.

She knew all his arrangements.

Khaled, the tomatoes are ready.

He used to work right here,
where we are standing.

At 10:00 AM, on October 28th,
his life came to an end.

Heart failure.
-Heart failure.

That's it,
gone for no reason.

Just like that.

We couldn't believe
when he died.

That's life.

After my father died my brothers
opened the restaurant,

They took on the responsibility.

and they got the restaurant into debt.

So Suheila came in
and she had to take on the responsibility,

and she reopened the restaurant.

In the beginning
it wasn't this busy.

I built up the business
step by step,

until I got to where I am now.

It was very hard.

The business was also
deep in debt.

Deep in debt.
Not a small one, big debt.

Finally I got it together
and paid it all off.

It took 20 years...
20 hard years.

So you support the whole family?

Yes, it's all on my shoulders.

Okay? Bon appetit.

Since 1993.

I'm like their father.

I have the father's responsibility.

I took Eliyahu Shmueli to Uman,

and I felt that he was willing
to come with me to the spiritual pilgrimage.

He became a little bit more open
to the spiritual side of things.

Have a nice trip.
-Ciao.

What a saint!

Hey, what's up?
-How's it going?

My God, we got to Uman so fast.

Good evening. -It's morning
here, bro. -Whatever.

I come here around five
times a year,

four times I come alone
and one time a year

I can take all my family
and my wife and my kids here.

Hummus makes you stupid.

Hummus makes you stupid.

Hamin served straight
to your table.

"Bless You, O Lord, King of the universe,
who created all with His word." -Amen!

I can go to hotels and stuff
and I always come back empty.

When I go to Uman,
I come back with a full battery.

Great hummus.

Eliyahu makes the
best hummus ever.

We were standing right here,
me and Aluf Abir, and here it happened.

I started crying, hysterical crying
for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, more or less,

and I didn't even know
why I'm crying

because I didn't have
anything to cry about.

300.000 people come from Israel
every year to Uman and back,

and I never met in my life
a person that had been in Uman,

came back

and didn't tell me that his life
has totally changed.

For me, with all the tension, all the phones
and running between shops and stuff,

the only place I can run
away to is Uman.

We have all kinds of automatic feelings,
automatic thoughts

and automatic things we do every day,

and you're like awake,
but you're actually asleep.

Rabbi Nachman said you have to
restart every day,

every time, every second, renew,

and so when I go to Uman,
I just need some air.

I was born in 1982, in my city, Ramle,

in a street called Zahal (IDF).

I studied in the Catholic school,

and when I was in the 3rd grade,
I needed to move to another Catholic school,

and the Catholic school
didn't accept me

because I'm Greek Orthodox
and I'm not Catholic,

so my mom decided to put me
in a public Jewish school,

and they put me with the new
immigrants that came from Russia.

I remember one bad experience
with the children.

I fought with some child,
I was in the 5th grade,

and I will say it in Hebrew
because in Hebrew it sounds better.

I fought with some kid
and he got so mad at me that he said to me:

"Go back to Christianland, Jalil."

"Go back to Christianland,"

you know, because I'm Christian
and I'm Arabic,

so I stopped being angry about them

and I started to realize how I
can actually teach them,

and what's the difference
between Christians and Muslims.

Actually, most of my friends are Jewish.

I have just two or three Arab friends
until now.

I understand them
and I understand my side,

so the idea is to be together.

I loved to work in the
restaurant since I was like a child.

It's to know people,
to understand people.

I remember when I started to work,

and the first thing that I did

was to go to the bakery,
to bring the pita.

So I put the box on my head
and I ran, ran, ran,

and suddenly the box broke
and I felt my head into the pita.

It was hot, so hot,
it was so hot,

so I just took it out,
threw all the pita.

I went crying to my father
to tell him what happened.

He started to yell at me:
Yes, I know, I understand that, you cried,

but where is the pita?
We need to work.

Where is the pita?

What's nice in a restaurant
is that when you start to be a customer,

you become a part of the family.

We have a customer who's eating,
5th generation

in our restaurant in Ramle.
It's amazing.

Hello.
-Hello.

They're closed.
This is Abu Shukri. -Yes...

They're closed.
-Are they?

How are you?

All good?

Two large containers.
-Like this? -Yes.

Olive oil and chickpeas?
-Yes.

Did you know we won third place
for the best kebab in the world?

Very nice. Good for you.
Congratulations.

Not everything is rosy
between families here in Abu Gosh.

I'm the original.

In 1965 I opened the restaurant
in the village center.

It's special hummus.

Why?
Because it's named after me.

It's trademarked.

Like Coca-Cola. Can you open
your own Coca-Cola company?

Stay here.
-Cut it out! Go away!

We've been making this hummus
for generations.

It's the best hummus in the whole region.

We even won first prize
for hummus in Israel.

Great hummus.

Very good.
-It's good.

All the restaurants
sell packaged Tzabar hummus.

We're the only ones who make real,
genuine hummus.

I worked with my cousin.

When a man marries a woman,
that's when trouble starts.

We quarreled,
I bought him out,

and he opened his own place
across the street, right in front of me.

Make some falafel.

A lot of people are jealous.
They burned down the restaurant.

One day I asked
a good friend of mine, Ibrahim,

"Tell me, where is
the best hummus in Abu Gosh?"

So he told me,
"I buy it in the supermarket.

"In Rami Levi Supermarket."

How's it going?
-Okay.

Nachmanuni.

His store was open on Shabbat,
on the Sabbath day.

I said, "We don't work on the Sabbath,

and the money that a person makes
is really not blessed, and what have you.

So he says,
"I'll tell you what I'll do.

"I'll take the money that I make
on the Sabbath, and I'll give it to you."

And I said, "Why? Do you hate me?"
and that shocked him.

At that time I was beginning to
understand that if I'm going to be religious

I cannot work on Saturday

and I cannot touch, work with,
women doing massage because...

You know, I'm married.

I used to work on a camel ranch,
and in August of 2004

we had a jazz festival in Eilat.

So we went to the festival
to sell the goat cheese we used to make.

I was working in an insurance company,
and I was looking for a big change.

And I was at a point that...

I didn't want to meet
any more guys in my life.

I was very disappointed from all of them.

I was like... no more.

We switched numbers and stuff,

and after a week she came to the
camel ranch to see the camels,

and then she went to the goats.
She fell in love with the goats.

In one week I sold my car,
left my house, left my job,

and just decided, okay, I'm gonna do it.

I'm gonna do it.

We lived in the same caravan
and we didn't even touch each other.

And after two weeks,
a deep voice inside of me said,

"She is the one.
She is your wife."

I suddenly realized that...

He's there, I'm there,
and it was something very magical

because...

I never thought it would happen
to me again and it was like,

wow!

And that evening I asked her
to marry me and she said yes.

And two weeks after
we decided to get married.

It was him, for sure.
When you know it, you know it.

And it was a process

because I didn't know the Torah
like I know it now,

and I thought it was something very...
black.

That I'm supposed to be in the kitchen,
making babies...

And then, slowly I realized
that it is...

something that it's a book
of instruction to live life.

How could I live without it?

There were times when we were very poor,

and then God saved us.

He sent us the hummus.

Can you call me back
in two hours?

I just want to tell you
what it's about

so you can decide
if you're interested. Listen,

I told you we're putting on
concerts here at the restaurant,

and you have a studio in Ramle,

and I'm sure people come to you
to record.

We as Samir Live Stage

want to provide a venue
for local musicians.

Do you know of any?

Okay, bro.
Enjoy your work. Bye-bye.

Just to manage the restaurant
in Ramle is not enough for me.

I really want to do
more stuff in my life.

For a few weeks I'm trying to arrange
a rock concert at the restaurant

and it's really hard to find a musician.

It's not for me.

It's for youngsters.

Things were different
in my time.

It's...

Youngsters like that stuff.

Some drink, some...

It's even harder to bring
people to eat hummus

and listen to this kind of music in Ramle,
it's really hard.

I don't know what to do.

I was going to suggest that you
come in here along with the restaurant.

See? We'll turn this into a cafe.

We can fix up the walls
and make a hostel upstairs.

It works together with the restaurant.

-Just coffee and simple food.
-A branch of "Samir."

Coffee, tea and all kinds of...

workshops, combined with the museum,
guided tours.

You want to do concerts at the restaurant,

there's more room here.

Nihad, although he traveled all
over the world for many years,

he decided to come back to Ramle
and settle down and get married,

and he's still here in Ramle.

The green color is...

the secret of my profession...

In order to make this color
you need ammonia,

and ammonia is smelly and dangerous

so I use my pee.

I pee in a bucket
and dip the leaves in pee,

then I dry them and they turn green.

I made 50 small ones for the Ministry
of the Environment

and they send them abroad as gifts.

This tree symbolizes the Land of Israel.

I'm flying in a few weeks, to Berlin.

Maybe I'll see my friend there
who wants to open a restaurant.

I'll see if I can
open a restaurant there.

I'll see if it works,
if people like the hummus.

Listen to me, don't go anywhere,
you're wasting your time.

After years of traveling
all over the world,

I was abroad for 13 years,
in the end I came back.

I have a gallery,
I have a successful job.

I'm telling you from experience-
it's best to live in your country.

Stay here, you'll be better off.

How is your brother Suheil?

Suheil is lazy and stingy.
He doesn't spend a shekel.

Sometimes I call and ask
how they're doing.

He says, "When are you moving out?
Get going!"

As if he bought the house
with money he worked hard for.

My brother, he doesn't work.

He receives a pension from social security,

so we gave him the house as a gift.

And I bought a new house for myself.

In January,
I'm moving to the new apartment.

The restaurant has expenses, too.

You need 4 or 5 workers.
What do they think?

Yusef, they don't understand.

The restaurant needs workers,
cleaning products, hummus,

oil...

Ask Hassan A Sharkawi
how much I pay for bleach.

You built the house,
you wasted your life on them...

They don't think I deserve anything.

I want to move out.
I don't want to stay with them anymore.

I came to Jerusalem when
I was in 9th grade. Now I'm 50.

That's 25, 30 years.
Even more.

I can't believe I'm meeting you here.
This is unreal.

How did we end up meeting here?

Here you are.
-Hello.

How are you?
-Thank God.

All good?
-Yes, thank God.

Are you here to look for hummus?

No, I didn't come here
to look for hummus,

I know where the best hummus
in Israel is.

Thank you.

How are you?
-Fine. Thank God.

He's a client of mine.

That's Jerusalem up to the Old City.

It tastes like it's made from powder.
What did they put in it?

My hummus is better.

Don't you take days off?
-I take Tuesdays off.

I sit down, relax,
with my girlfriends.

Thank you.

I'll bring the dress
and we'll tailor it for her.

Do you buy your clothes here?

Yes.
They're beautiful, they're imported.

Does everyone like hummus?

Can't you see?
We're on a diet because of the hummus.

When I came to Israel they told me,
"Watch out for the hummus,

you'll get fat." And it's true.

Right, Suheila?

My husband eats there every week.

He loves her hummus.

He is a clean man,
and he likes that her place is clean.

He says, "It's as clean as a mirror.
You can eat off it."

And that's all that counts.

No one cares if you're an Arab
or a Jew, we're people.

We work, we talk...

We have good relations.
-Very good.

I come from Morocco,
I'm used to it.

I don't see any difference.

Does she have suitors?
-Sure. Oh-la-la.

I don't need them.

She forgot to get married. Why?

Work, work, work.

She loves her work, thank God.
-Yes.

I could easily find a man
for her in Morocco.

She'd make a good wife.

Would you like to see
where the hummus is being prepared?

I'd love to see the hummus
being prepared, if that's OK.

In Israel there was
a huge satellite dish,

and there were weighing scales
set out underneath.

There's a huge responsibility that goes
with being a Guiness World Records adjudicator.

I'm essentially
a witness to history.

By the time the bowl
started to be filled

the atmosphere was electric,
there were people everywhere,

literally families with their children,
generations of people there

and all the local press,
all waiting for the moment

where the hummus will be finally weighed.

I saw it.

It was...

a very, very big plate of hummus.

It therefore gives me great pleasure
to award a new Guinness World Record.

They smashed the record again

and they managed a staggering
4.000 kg (8.820 lb) of hummus that time.

They won.

They had the Guinness prize
for the biggest hummus in the world.

It was fantastic, actually.

All people from the local areas
came with their Tupperware

and all sorts of different containers,

and they were dipping them into the bowls.

Did you eat the hummus?
-No, because it was in the sun

and I didn't want to eat it.

We have more than
20 kinds of chickpeas.

Each one has a different kind of fat inside,
or different size.

And not every kind of chickpea fits
to every kind of tahini,

because tahini is made from
eight differernt kinds of sesame,

and in different ways.
So you have to find the right mix

between the right sesame,
to the right chickpea,

to make the perfect hummus.

I was in debt for around 300.000
shekels, it's a lot of money in Israel,

and I was making at that time
around 100 shekels a day

or 200 shekels a day,
more or less.

I was working as a busboy at the
hummus place of a friend of mine

in Pardes Hanna.

He's a good, good, good man,

and he offered me to open
a hummus place with his recipe.

I said, "OK, let's do it."

It's a very secret recipe,

nobody really knows it,

it's basically like Coca-Cola.

Eliyahu doesn't tell the recipe.

The business was looking good.

We were just starting,
but people liked what we did.

So after a while I just wanted
to buy the tahini more cheap.

When I called the factory
somebody answered me in Arabic.

This was a bit suspicious to me because,

if they don't speak Hebrew,
how come the tahini is kosher?

So I asked him,
"How come the tahini is kosher?"

He said to me,
"The tahini is not kosher."

I said, "But it says on the box 'kosher'."

He said, "Yeah, a few years ago
we were kosher."

So I said, "OK, thank you."
I hung up the phone.

And I was checking and
studying and walking

and every day exploring
a new kind of tahini,

but eventually, after two weeks,

I didn't find a kind of tahini
that mixed with the hummus

that could give me the kind of
flavor that's like...

This is hummus.

I got back to my wife that day

and I told her
that we have a big problem.

We have to close the hummus restaurant.

She started crying,
I started crying,

because we were in big debts and now

things are going good for us
and now to close the store...

I told her, "Listen, if by tomorrow
I can't find a different kind of tahini

"that I can make excellent hummus with,
"I'm closing the shop."

The next day I came to work, I was working,
and I didn't have a clue what to do.

Around 12:00, an older guy came
with a red hat,

like a Turkish hat, and a cane,

and he put on the table
a plastic bag with a box inside

and went out.

So I said to myself, it's a bit weird,
but weird is my case, so it's...

Let's check it out.

I opened the plastic bag, I see a box of tahini
that I've never seen in my life.

I checked to see if it's kosher--
it's not kosher,

it's extra-kosher,

so I tried to make hummus
with this tahini.

I was making the first pot of hummus,

tasting, it was the best hummus
I ever ate in my life.

I thought to myself, no way.
I checked it again,

and it was the same thing.

I called my wife,
and we were just saved because

it's too much coincidence in one day...

It has to be a miracle.

Sometimes you want to leave everything
and go to Europe

or the United States or Australia

and start your life
in a different country.

My fiancée, she moved to Berlin.

She's gonna do the PhD
for two years,

and it's a good start.

Now we are going to Kreutzberg,
it's the area with many restaurants.

We'll look for a place there,
to open a restaurant.

Today with my nephew
was just like, a walk around

looking for a place
maybe to open a restaurant here.

People can eat here better
hummus if they see I can bring it.

They have no service awareness here,
it's really bad.

They don't know
how to speak to customers.

It's enough to have a waitress
that will smile to the clients.

Let's go see the ingredients
that the Turks are selling.

I hope we can enter
with the dog.

Istanbul Supermarket.

Look at the vegetables.
Nice.

Come see the tahini.

Look at the oil,
it's together with the tahini.

This is how they sell it here.

300 grams. -15 shekels.
Expensive.

What about the restaurant in Ramle?
-The restaurant will stay.

I will be here and there,
and we will see what happens.

I can't commit to one place yet.

Now is the time,
I want to try something.

Look, a shawarma place,
that looks like a good location.

If we're gonna open a place,
for sure I'll be here for a few months.

Like in a year,

maybe I will divide myself,
6 months in Israel

and 6 months in Berlin.

wherever it's hotter,
I'll move there,

with the heat.

It's cold here.
It's really cold.

It's starting to rain.
Come on, let's go.

I will see you tonight, yes?
-Bye.

What makes me be Jalil, is my hummus.

Hummus is a blessing.

My father thinks I'm stupid.

Why leave a restaurant
with customers that's working,

people, actually, their dream
is to open a restaurant,

and you have already a restaurant,
so why do you want to leave it?

Sometimes it makes me feel sad,

but I'm 33 years old and...

this is a good opportunity for me
to try something new.

So I feel sad but also happy.

I'm not black-and-white.

Good morning, Dad.

How are you?

Listen, today a group is coming,
you know about it?

Yes, with Ron, the head of tourism,

a group of 40 people.

Listen, Dad,

18 will eat salads and 18 meat.

OK, thats fine. I will speak with you later.
OK, buddy.

Bye.

This is my new house
near the beach and boardwalk.

It's beautiful here.
I have a great view.

This is my mother's room.

And you'll make hummus here?

I'll do my home cooking.

Hummus is for the restaurant,
it's work.

Do both Jews and Arabs
live in the building? -Yes.

That's why I bought it,
because there are Jews here.

It's quiet.
I want peace and quiet.

Welcome.
-How are you?

Congratulations.

Suheila is today's bride.

"She is like a gently flowing
stream watering the fields around it."

We're happy for you
and proud of your success.

You girls have talked enough.
I have a lot to say.

But seriously.

Ilham, how old was your oldest husband?

I've had so many,
I can't remember their ages.

Look at us, too,
not just at Suha.

Hello, we're here, too.

Suheila is a good example,
an excellent example for the girls

because she only finished
12th grade.

I'm using her
and her achievements

as an example in the College
for Education in gender studies.

Only hummus and a small place

and she succeeded,
and reached what she reached.

Suheila, aren't you sorry
you never got married?

I don't have time.

Life is tough. I'm 50.
It's too late.

I've had offers, but I refused.

All I think about is the business,

expanding the business.

My story is over.

Just my business
and my work and my house

and my family.

I'm married to hummus.

Look how many children I have
in the hummus sack.

A lot of things happened
in the last one-and-a-half years,

like, my life changed from...

boom, like from one side
to the other side.

My father, Samir, passed away recently,

and now I need to manage
two restaurants by myself,

to carry on the family tradition.

It's something that I don't
think that I will ever leave.

I work there since I was a child,
so I have to be there.

I'm living in Israel
20 days a month

and in Berlin 10 days.

Kanaan Express.
-Wow.

Something that I'm working on
for two-and-a-half years,

and it's actually happening.

In Kanaan in Berlin,
the business is going well, actually,

people like the food,
people come to eat the food,

they heard about our hummus,
the best hummus in Berlin.

In the weekend we have,
like, a waiting list,

like, 40 minutes to come
to have a place to eat.

People love it.
I'm more than happy

how it's worked.

It's really like... it's really
dreams that come true.

After six years of working,
working hard, working good...

My family's growing, the business is growing,
everything is just growing now.

Now we have around 31 or 32
restaurants all over Israel.

We're opening 12 more this year.

There's a good chance we're going
to go to the U.S. and open over there, too.

So we're going to be very busy this year,

with the store,
with the baby, with everything.

Yehoshua Sofer told me
to call it McHummus, but...

Whoa. -Whoa.
-Bring it in.

Oh no, he brought the wrong...

Moshon, this isn't extra-kosher.

Really?
-We can't use it.

Eliyahu, wait, I'll be right back.
-Step on it.

Starting to make hummus,
the first batch.

May it always be happy here.
-Amen.

"Blessed are You, O Lord our God,
King of the universe,

"Who commanded us to affix the mezuzah."

Amen.

I cannot imagine life
without hummus,

and I hope that the hummus
is gonna bring us to a point

that we can live in a big farm
or something like this.

I can't say
that hummus is my salvation.

But I think God chose,
in my case,

to bring my salvation
through the hummus.

And I cannot take it to a laboratory
and check it and prove it to you,

but you can believe it or not,
and I believe it and I'm happy with it,

and that's my story.

It now stands at an amazing
10.5 thousand kilograms.

I personally think I produce
the best hummus in the world,

but that's for the...
you know, people to judge.

That doesn't mean
we are going to stop,

I'm continuing and I'm going
to make 15.000 kg.

Okay, let's discuss falafel, for that matter.

Is falafel Lebanese? Is it Egyptian?
Is it Palestinian?

I wanted to make the biggest falafel,
but what for?

It's not about hummus,
it's about life.

In the wild, wild Middle East...

I am going to make
a diet hummus.

A fat man will become skinny.

Your Torah's the ship that sails
on the sea of wisdom

To the shores of Your
divine holy kingdom.

I admit it, I eat hummus!
Yeah, man!

I eat hummus, and make sure
you eat your hummus

with olives, with olive oil

because if you eat it without olive oil
you lose your memory, man...

Boom.

That was the best one, man.