[Closed] How old were you when you first tried houmous...

Never! It looks disgusting and that’s good enough for me!

Absolutely no idea.

Twelvty
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The first time I had it, I ate it.

What kind of experiment did you do?

I've made it to 46 without doing so thankfully

What kind of experiment did you do?

Something alternative.

Not sure, but I was about 18 before I'd ever heard of garlic bread which would have been the early nineties.

fried lamb, loads of houmous, chopped parsley and lemon juice. my god that's good

weeksy - Member
I've made it to 46 without doing so thankfully

Missing out!

Yep, 46 and just the smell of it makes me want to vom.

I'm from oop nuuuueeerrrrrth and never though of Humous as being 'alternative', however my dad was (is) into cooking from various countries so always has something different going on in the kitchen. He built a make-shift Tandoor oven back in the day when BBQ's were just kicking off, and we had a Tandoori cook-out instead of a BBQ. Though I guess I didn't have the typical upbringing when it comes to food. About the only aspect of my life that wasn't typical and boring when growing up.

19 or 20 probably. Pretty plain food in our house as a kid, except for the odd exotic Vesta curry. Plus there wasn't the money for eating out with 5 kids.

4/5 is guess, some of my family are from the Middle East way-back-when so we had ‘odd’ stuff now and again.

Just tried an olive for the first time and might try and pop my salad cherry soon
Spam, shippams meat paste, toast toppers mothers pride plain loaf and angel delight the staple food in Escotia

Oh my.

Answers on a pita bread please....

It wasn't invented when I were a lad.

He built a make-shift Tandoor oven back in the day when BBQ's were just kicking off

Was that BH or after?

It wasn't invented when I were a lad.

You’re over 700 years old?

There's hummus you get out of a jar and there's hummus you make yourself. Two different things. One isn't hummus, the other is lovely.

Its basically this, with some garlic flavouring added....

[img] [/img]

Like olives, nobody actually likes it, but if you're prepared to endure the tiling grout/fairy liquid combo of those two vile substances then you're accepted into the middle class, whereas if you're an honest salt of the earth oik you are excluded, but at least you can shrug and have some primula on a thick piece of sliced white bread and a packet of Monster Munch

I think I know who's winning 😀

I didn’t realise it was such a momentous moment.

Feeling quite foolish right now

Me too I might see if my parents have it in the family album.

4 or 5, and i'm from up north (born there). Though family is extensively from elsewhere.

[quote="binners"]Its basically this, with some garlic flavouring added....This is what happens when you do your shopping from the lowest of three quotes. Same with the olives.

Piss off... proper olives that you can seemingly get from every french village are as addictive as crack.

The French are right, this island is full of inbres peasants and pirates. 😆

Olives are the devils chug-nuts.

I periodically try them just to check if I've somehow magically become more middle class and sophisticated, like.

Invariably I haven't, as I also end up asking myself the same question.... why do they inject them with washing up liquid?

Again, doing it wrong if your olives taste like washing up liquid.

About 10 I think.

33 Before I made my own (didn't use shop bought tahini (sp) paste either, toasted some sesame seeds and used a pestle and mortar.

I can't remember when I first tried Houmous, but I just cannot imagine life without it. Pretty young I reckon. Veggie since 14 so perhaps more open to eating that foreign muck.

I was wondering what my life was like BH recently as it happens. What the frig did I put on me sangers?

I'm a big fan but something of a Houmous-purist. All these new fangled flavours these days are for amateurs.

[i]Like olives, nobody actually likes it[/i]

My kid likes olives. Has done since he was tiny. And kids don't fake shit like that! Weirdly, he prefers green to black.
Anyway, houmous - prob in 30s, after I was married. The ex liked to do pita , olives and humous for lunch. Another weird one, cos she wasn't at all posh.

Why are we all spelling hummus wrong anyway?

My 7 month old loves the stuff. Myself, I have no idea. Not a fan.

Again, doing it wrong if your olives taste like washing up liquid.

the last couple of times have been at our local Tapas place that Jay Rayner rates as one of the best eateries in the country.

Their food is fantastic.

Apart from the olives

They taste like...

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Try making it with roast chestnuts for a festive version,it's very good

it's threads like these that keep me going back to wondering just how binners and i are such good friends!

ad, i shall bring you some of my home made houmous soon. it goes really well with a packet of space raiders...

In the cinema for Star Wars on Monday, the person next to me (fortunately a few seats across) unpacked a selection of dips and hummus, and shovelled it into his gob with pitta. Off-putting

about 5 when I first pulled a cracker.. something about santa and self elf books

Now taramasalata is a different beast..

Olives are the devils chug-nuts.

I periodically try them

I couldn't eat them at all when young but persevered with them and then one day went from hating them to loving them. Something about trying things enough times (around 10)

Have always liked houmous but don't give me any kimchi (or any other fermented stuff)

Don't remember exactly. Was also brought up on meat paste, tins of mince-meat, processed pork and jams. Even (especially) mayonnaise didnt feature in our house, nor any other 'foreign muck'. Proper British. There came a time somewhere in the 1980s where the family love of pork had somehow let 'paté' slip through the net and into the fridge. On rare occasions. Yes, it was foreign. Yet it doesn't have garlic in it (a foodstuff literally banned from the house I kid you not) - so it somehow passed the 'test'. The Force of Pork is strong in the Black Country. Had to be Brussels paté.

Houmous, though? I don't remember hearing it mentioned in the 70's/80s. And isn't it Arabic? That would be beyond pretentious. Completely alien goo territory.

So I probably tried houmous some time in the 90's in my twenties. Then-girlfriend had a big family and they ate all manmer of 'foreign stuff'. It was like a magical wonderland for my taste-buds. This immediately landed me in the 'pretentious' category back home. I think I may have mentioned once that I liked it. Black sheep status eaned.

Still haven't found a foodstuff that I don't like (apart from badly-cooked stuff of course) Probably will be an insect or some of that rotten-smelling Scandinavian tinned fish-horror I read about. Or that italian cheese made of cheesy maggot-poo and maggots. Although, have eaten a maggot once. Hmmm...

My wife makes the best houmous (revithosalata) that I’ve ever tasted, the important bit is not to boil the chickpeas. This is dry chickpeas, of course - not tinned.
Soak them overnight then freeze them for a few days - the freezing is the important bit, because it softens them so you don’t need to boil them, which means that you don’t lose all the flavour into the water you’ve boiled them in.

And on a hot summer’s day you’re not heating your house up with all that boiling either........

Then just as normal - tahini, garlic, rigani, parsley, lemon juice, salt, olive oil and blitz with a hand blender. Drizzle a bit more olive oil on top before serving. Result is more flavour and texture than if you boil the chickpeas and infinitely better than any of the bought stuff.

Eat with some lallagia with a glass of Plomariou ouzo. What’s not to like?

Probably about 24, so 2005-ish. Bit backward here in NI. The DUP tried to have it banned, along with line dancing.

or some of that rotten-smelling Scandinavian tinned fish-horror I read about.

Watching videos of people eating it is almost as funny as those chilli pepper challenge videos.

In the cinema for Star Wars on Monday, the person next to me (fortunately a few seats across) unpacked a selection of dips and hummus, and shovelled it into his gob with pitta.

Eat with some lallagia with a glass of Plomariou ouzo. What’s not to like?

The ouzo.

Inverse (sic) snobbery is strong in this thread.

Like pork scratchings, nobody actually likes them, but if you're prepared to endure the hairy toenails/grease combo of those two vile substances then you're accepted into the lower class

That's how you sound. HTH 😉

It's like a trap. Snobs trying to trap non-snobs into their mindset. If young Henry decides to try a pork scratching because he's not had one yet, and is curious, then hateful Jocasta accuses him sharply of attempting to 'look lower class'. Henry at this point wisely decides that Jocasta is not worth marrying after all.

Oooooooooo.... that reminds me.... I've not opened todays window on my pork scratchings advent calendar!!

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😀

In my 40’s and no rush to experience it again

Hurrah! Someone spelt it right! But is pita "pitta" or "pita"?

*Edit - Apologies if I missed some Poe's law/satirical parody. I'm often not the sharpest tool in the box, it has to be said 🙂

I've also no idea how to spell it. Does anyone? Invariably buy it from Lidl (cheapest and best superstore version IMO):

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I was 14yrs old when I first tried it. But I didn’t inhale until my mid 20’s

Hurrah! Someone spelt it right! But is pita "pitta" or "pita"?

It was spelt right on page 1 too. Pita is UK variant for pitta sometimes spelling is a PITA.

Again, doing it wrong if your olives taste like washing up liquid.

Or your'e doing the washing up wrong.

'Hands that do dishes will be softs your face with mild, green Fillipo Berio.'

[i]It was spelt right on page 1 too[/i]

That was the one to which I was referring.

[i]sometimes spelling is a PITA[/i]

8)

DezB - Member
Hurrah! Someone spelt it right! But is pita "pitta" or "pita"?

It’s “pita” from the Greek “????”

In the cinema for Star Wars on Monday, the person next to me (fortunately a few seats across) unpacked a selection of dips and hummus, and shovelled it into his gob with pitta. Off-putting

But not as air-shattering/tooth-gratingly annoying as crisps or nachos? Or peanut M&Ms. In fact pita and dip sounds ... near-silent? Unless he was a noisy-eater. Argh. Lip-smacker/snoffler?

I was 32 I think. Its quite delicious

It’s from the Ancient Greek ?????.

Bloody loves it, me. As does our 18 month old lad. If we ask him what he'd like for lunch the most common reply is "houmouth! houmouth! houmouth!"

Let a bloke at work try some. He was wary, only had a wee bit. He turned red and dashed to the bin to spit it out. This bloke will eat anything, all kinds of offal and innards. But he draws the line at chickpeas, sesame paste and garlic.

I don;t get why people don't like it? texture.

First had it with my first posh girlfriend, age 15.

...probably 18 when I spent a few months in Greece over summer. But I have no memories. .

I have a very clear memory of when i first encountered yogurt though: middle school, central Leeds, mid-70s, school dinners, these pots of lemon yogurt appeared. No one knew what it was. A few brave souls tried it and pronounced it nice. They're all probably dead now. The school's certainly demolished. Being cautious none passed my lips.

Love the stuff, but I didn't try it until I was about 35.

I don;t get why people don't like it? texture.

People like different stuff 😉

I just remembered, I tried caper-berries recently and the taste was meh but the gritty seeds put me right off. So there's a first for my not liking a foodstuff. Texture definitely plays a part.

don't get why people don't like it? texture.

Thats exactly it for me. I find it like pouring wet sand into your mouth. Hence the tiling grout reference. Its absolutely disgusting!

And believe me, bar olives (which is just solidified Fairy liquid) there are very very few things I won't eat

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Soak them overnight then freeze them for a few days - the freezing is the important bit, because it softens them so you don’t need to boil them

Anyway, I have no idea how old I was when I first had it, but I know how old I'll be when I stop – the day I die.

Lovely stuff – just the plain stuff too, none of this fussing with roasted peppers, onion, chilli etc etc. Just give me houmous and raw carrots. Mmmmm.

I find it like pouring wet sand into your mouth

'Wet sand'? You're supposed to use soaked/cooked chickpeas 😉

Also 'pouring into' the mouth sounds suspect! Something went wrong for sure 😯

Life really is too short for soaking and cooking chickpeas, my friend 🙂

I've just had my advent calendar pork scratchings as a chaser to my sausage butty

Homous indeed.....

Born 1965 in ossett west yorks:
pork scratching ie crackling and dripping from birth,
courgettes when we visited our southern relatives i was about 10 they were a genuine novelty to me parents and me.
Pizza when my brother came back from the army so about 10 too. (the pizza came in 4 sachets base, sauce, topping, cheese,all powders to mix with water)
Houmous when i became a student so 18 or 19 olives probably at the same age.
i really like my food now and wont hesitate to spend money to get nice tasty versions of food , that policy pays dividends with olives , houmous taramsalata and i think cheese.
i'm don't eat land based meat now but for pork scratchings and dripping homemade was the only way .

Love it.
🙂

I moved from the multicultural wonderland that was Crumpsall to Todmorden about 25 years ago.
I asked the lad in the local supermarket where the hummus was.
He'd never heard of it.
😀

johndoh - Member
“Soak them overnight then freeze them for a few days - the freezing is the important bit, because it softens them so you don’t need to boil them”

I thought they needed to be boiled to get rid of toxins? Or is that just kidney beans and stuff like that?

I think that’s just kidney beans - put it this way, I’m still alive and kicking after years of eating it made this way.

Drac - Moderator
It’s from the Ancient Greek ?????.

In that case, I’ll take your word for it - I don’t know any Ancient Greek. ????? ??????????, ????????.......

I moved from the multicultural wonderland that was Crumpsall to Todmorden about 25 years ago.
I asked the lad in the local supermarket where the hummus was.
He'd never heard of it

remember looking for tofu in tescos on my return to the north. Asked an assistant for help and was led confidently to the werther's originals...

He knew full-well where it was. He was just trying to do you a favour 😉

Just realised I never actually answered the OP's question. Think I was 30-ish. I'm 42 now.

22-23 I reckon. 36 years ago? It's hardly new or niche.

At a guess about 47 years ago so 5, my mum had a Turkish friend who introduced us to all sorts of new foods, she also brought us trays of Baklava 🙂
I had a pretty varied diet as my mum threw off her meat & 2 veg upbinging in Huddersfield as soon as she left home.

She still made her own houmous up until she died earlier this year.

This will be my first Christmas/New Year without a parent 🙁

hummus is one of the things that my mum would call 'Queer Food', ie strange and exotic foods eaten by posh people and foreigners. Other such foods would include curry, pasta, and pretty much anything else that isn't meat and potatoes.

So I started trying all these things after I left home in the late 90s. Exciting times 😀

No idea, probably in my 20's.

My kids have had it since they were babies though. Middle class Leeds!

My mother had worked in an Italian restaurant so we had various pasta dishes from a very early age.

Only a couple of years ago for me, it's a recent discovery. Though I have an odd relationship with food generally.

First had it with my first posh girlfriend, age 15.

That's cosmopolitan, most folk just use pitta bread.

most folk just use pitta bread

you haven't lived

57 and never knowingly tried it. I've stuck a breadstick in something strange at Buffett's so perhaps I have 😆

Houmous of the Tesco variety and carrot batons yum yum, olives are the product of a devil rabbits arse