The Lebanese counterattack on Israel was carefully planned, precisely organized and ruthlessly executed by an army of 300. The mission: Unseat Israel as the hummus champion of the world. On May 8, 2010, 300 Lebanese chefs armed with state-of-the-art spatulas achieved a new Guinness World Record by whipping up a 10-ton batch of the chickpea spread, history’s largest. A “hummus war” has been waging since 2006, when Sabra, the hummus company whose name is Hebrew slang for “Israeli-born” and which is partly owned by the Israel-based Strauss Group, served up the first Guinness-worthy batch. The feat inspired chefs in both countries to one-up each other in a series of chickpea smash-offs. Silly as the competition sounds, it unearthed a passionate debate about who invented the ubiquitous Middle Eastern dip. Although few Israelis would go so far as...

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