How did a simple mash of chickpeas become a multi-billion dollar geopolitical battleground? This deep dive traces hummus from its linguistic roots, where the word literally means chickpeas, to the four non-negotiable pillars of hummus bi tahini: chickpeas, tahini, lemon, and garlic.

We follow the dish from a 13th century Syrian recipe called a chickpea garment, through Cairo variations using vinegar and pickled lemons, to the first documented garlic in an 1885 Lebanese cookbook. Then we explore its boom in Britain and the United States, the tobacco farmers who switched to chickpeas, and the hummus wars over who gets to claim it.

• Why the earliest known written recipe, attributed to Ibn al-Adham of Aleppo, contained no garlic
• How kosher dietary law made hummus a pareve staple in Israel and how Mizrahi Jews brought their own traditions
• The UK and US boom, including 41 percent of British fridges and Sabra’s 62 percent market share
• Why American chickpea production quadrupled and nitrogen-fixing chickpeas replaced tobacco crops
• The 2008 Lebanese EU petition for protected status and the 10,450 kilogram Guinness record in Al-Fanar