Geo answer

Where on earth does hummus come from? And how about the falafel? Well they have one main ingredient in common: chickpeas. Hummus is a chickpea dip, the falafel a fried chickpea ball.

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“Falafel” comes from the word for “pepper” in Arabic. And it’s been part of the Arab and Jewish diet for centuries.

In fact it’s so old; no one is really sure where it got started. But it’s spread all over the Middle East and around the world.

One man says the falafel, along with other delicacies such as tabouleh and babaganoush, should be brand names owned by his country.

And why not? France did it with Champagne, and Greece did it with feta cheese.

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So where does this food nationalist come from?

One clue – his country shares its biggest border with Syria…

For today’s Geo Quiz, we were looking for a Middle-Eastern country which shares its largest border with Syria.

That country is Lebanon, today’s answer to our Geo Quiz.

One enterprising Lebanese want to brand food like falafel and hummus as his nation’s original creation.

The World’s Aaron Schachter reports from Beirut. Listen: