There’s nothing like good, healthy, homemade hummus, and there isn’t really a reason for you not to try making it yourself. Hummus or houmous is a traditional food dip from eastern mediterranean now gaining popularity all around the globe. Hummus is a fairly ancient staple of the middle east, particularly lebanon, and has been around for at least 1500 years. The word itself is just arabic for "chickpea", so what we call hummus is known in the middle east as "hummus bi tahina", or "chickpeas with tahini". Traditionally, hummus is made in a pestle. It is served as an accompaniment with falafel or as a spread/dip with pita bread in mezzeh platter or with shish touk and dressed up with tomatoes, cucumbers, seasonings, pickles and served.