The Crisis of Performative Kitsch

In October 2008, Fadi Abboud, president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association—he would be appointed minister of tourism by Saad Hariri the next year—made the following statement: “It is not enough they [Israelis] are stealing our land. They are also stealing our civilization and our cuisine. Hummus and tabouleh belong to the Lebanese people the same way that Feta cheese belongs to the Greeks. It is unfair that hummus should be known across the world as a kosher Israeli or Greek dish. Hummus and tabouleh are Lebanese specialties and must be registered as such.”