Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Middle East peace negotiators may need to be careful what they serve with their pita next time they break bread.

Lebanese businessmen are making a legal claim that would designate hummus as traditional to Lebanon. That would make it easier for them to sue to prevent companies in Israel and other nations from marketing the popular chickpea-and-olive-oil spread as their own.

The Association of Lebanese Industrialists wants the European Union to declare hummus and other culinary specialties as traditional Lebanese dishes. The menu of potential targets also includes arak, the anise-flavored alcoholic drink, and tabouleh, a mixture of bulgur, parsley, mint and other herbs.

While the group's complaint covers all countries that produce such products, ``it's mostly Israeli companies claiming all our specialties as their own,'' said Fady Abboud, president of the association, in a telephone interview from Beirut yesterday. ``So many of our specialties are being marketed now as Israeli traditional dishes'' and ``among the most famous of these is hummus.''

The 65-year-old association hopes the EU will award legal protection to the foods in the same way it gave Greek milk producers exclusive use of the name feta for their crumbly, white cheese in 2005. That ruling gave feta protection in the EU that's similar to France's claim over champagne and Italy's over parmesan.

`From the Amazon'

``It's the same with tabouleh; it's even the same with our national drink, which is arak,'' Abboud said. ``It's even exported under the name `arak' from Israel.''

The culinary dispute may extend beyond the Mideast.

Some Brazilians think kibbe, ground meat with bulgur, and sfiha, a small, doughy pie similar to a pizza, ``come from the Amazon,'' Abboud said. In fact, he said, the foods were brought there by the first Lebanese immigrants in the 1860s.

``You can buy dehydrated Canadian tabouleh, which has nothing to do with the real thing,'' Abboud said. ``Lebanon is losing a lot. This is really not fair.''

In the U.S. alone, sales of hummus totaled $192 million last year, according to PepsiCo Inc., the world's biggest snack maker.

Osem Investments Ltd. -- maker of Israel's best-selling Tzabar hummus, a supermarket staple -- declined through a spokeswoman to discuss the food's origin.

`We Love It'

Israelis don't claim to have invented hummus, though they're proud of how much of a fixture it's become on the national menu.

``As far as I know, it comes from Egypt, not Lebanon, but who cares?'' said Shemaya Cohen, who ladles out his family recipe at the Hummus Bar in Tel Aviv's Florentine neighborhood.

``Hummus is a part of our lives, and we love it even if we borrowed it,'' he said. ``It's a symbol of being Israeli.''

Even the spelling of the word is a matter of debate.

Hummus is a transliteration of the Arabic word for chickpeas. The Oxford English Dictionary says the word was first absorbed into English from Turkish. Hummus is its common spelling in English, with variations hommos and hoummos.

But don't confuse it with humus, an English word in use since the 18th century referring to vegetable mold.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robin Stringer in New York at rstringer@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Ferziger in Tel Aviv at jferziger@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 7, 2008 17:55 EDT