Storiography is the documentary work of designer Christiana Aretta.

This story begins with a brief introduction to DC Recycling Laws, circa early 2008.

As you may expect, DC recycles many forms of paper and metal but, until recently, the types of plastic suitable for recycling were limited to #1 and #2. Which covers things like orange juice or laundry detergent containers, but doesn’t cover other plastic containers like those used to hold yogurt and hummus.

I live with a complete hummus addict. He is afflicted with a very specific addiction that only Asmar’s Mediterranean Hummus, Extra Garlic (Party Size) seemed capable of relieving. I have seen the man, having exhausted all other supplies of pita bread, corn chips, tortillas, or cut vegetables, eat hummus off potato chips. He easily goes through a quart of hummus a week, which was a lot of containers we couldn’t put in the recycling bin.

And thus a quest for hummus to replace the Mighty Asmar’s was begun. From my first attempts to this final refined recipe took about 3 months of careful tweaking and taste-testing by the addict himself, who heartily endorses this recipe:

“Yo’ Hummus is Soooo Garlicky Van Helsing Be Bathin’ In It” Hummus

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas (slightly less than 1 cup uncooked)
• 1/2 cup of tahini
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• juice of one lemon
• 2-3 good-sized cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Optional: 1 tbsp of paprika or, if you like it a lil spicy as Wayne* does, cayenne pepper

Preparation

1. Cook the chickpeas. My method: boil them for an hour, let them soak in their hot water and then gently boil them until soft. Or buy a couple cans (but don’t throw away the juice).
2. Shred the chickpeas in a food processor. Add tahini, olive oil, and lemon juice and puree together. Add a small amount of the chickpea juice only to facilitate the pureeing.
3. Grate the garlic by hand** and mix it all together in a bowl. Add seasonings to taste. If the hummus seems a little too dry/thick, add pea juice until desired consistency is reached.
4. Enjoy on anything (Wayne recommends warm pita bread or tortilla chips).

*Wayne Moses Burke is the Executive Director of the Open Forum Foundation and a self-confessed hummus addict.

**You can puree the garlic with the other stuff but be forewarned: Garlic is like those popular girls in high school. It might be found in the midst of other, lesser foods like chickpeas and olive oil but will vehemently resist your attempts at total integration. Some of it may be integrated during pureeing but rest assured, several small cells will remain intact, patiently waiting for the moment to detonate an unexpected bomb of epic garlic proportions.

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