White-Bean Hummus Dip ~ Photograph by Andrea Karapas

Someone I recently found a new respect for was talking to a group of colleagues last week about diversity.  He described diversity as a symphony, sharing that you can’t have a symphony with only one kind of instrument.  This metaphor really struck me on a deep level.  So deep that I actually wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget.  It’s something I’ve been thinking about ever since and with today being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, there’s no better time to write about how diversity has impacted my life.  I just so happen to have a recipe that represents this as well.  It’s funny how things happen to work out perfectly if you let them take a natural course.

I’ve always been drawn to people and their stories.  Asking questions is what I was born to do.  I do it everyday in my job to help people dig to find a deeper meaning and I tend to ask too many questions with everyone I meet just to learn more about them on a personal level.  We’re all guilty of making judgements about others on the surface and more often than not, I’ve found that once I hear someone’s story, the assumptions I’ve made initially are refuted by a deeper truth.

Growing up in a tiny town in rural Southeastern Michigan, I wasn’t exposed to any diversity and first learned of the need to broaden my horizons when my daughter, Julia, was 3 years old.  I remember an evening out for dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant in Ann Arbor, only a 1/2 hr away by car but worlds away in the aspect of diversity.  While we waited for the hostess to call our name for a table, an African-American woman came out of the dining area heading toward us on her way to the door.  “Look, Mommy! There’s Oprah!” my daughter shouts with an outstretched arm and pointed finger.  As you can imagine, this is in my top 3 of life’s most embarrassing moments.  Kindly, the woman approached my daughter, gently grasping her pointed finger, guiding it downward into her lap and with her soft voice said, “Oh Sweetie, I’m not Oprah but boy do I wish I was.  Thank you for the nice compliment.”  With a wink in my direction, I knew that was the cue I needed to provide my daughter more opportunities to meet people who were different from us.  Two years later we moved to Ann Arbor so I could finish my degree.  Julia began Kindergarten with many children that were different from her.  She was immediately drawn to those with rich culture and learned something new everyday not only from the lessons her teacher taught her but also from the other children in her class.  Euh-na, a little girl from Korea, gave Julia her first taste of sushi.  Mei-Mei, her best friend and neighbor from China, taught her how to count to 5 in Chinese and once in a while she still mentions Jihad, the little Iranian boy in her class that she had a crush on.  Just as my daughter was broadening her horizons, my learning and experiences went beyond the classroom as well and have become more valuable to me than any textbook I’ve read.

The spotlight recipe in this post represents the love I have for people who bring culture and new understanding to my life.  The first time I ever tried Hummus was at Ali Baba’s in Ann Arbor.  This Middle Eastern restaurant has the most amazing Hummus and Falafel I’ve had to this day.  Never having read the Arabic folktale, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, I used to be, until today, part of the ignorant popular media that portrays Ali Baba as the leader of The Forty Thieves which the title might imply.  Looking beyond the title and actually reading the story, I’ve learned that Ali Baba was actually NOT the leader of The Forty Thieves but a poor, honest woodcutter who becomes rich by outsmarting all forty thieves and the only one left knowing the secret of the hidden treasure.  Today, I make the commitment to forever remind myself not to judge a book by its cover and make a conscious effort to seek a deeper understanding in the pages beneath.  My life continues to become richer with the people I meet just as the symphony becomes more beautiful with each new instrument that sings.

White-Bean Hummus Dip
Ingredients
1/4  cup  chopped green onions
2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
2  tablespoons  tahini (sesame-seed paste)
1/2  teaspoon  dried oregano
1/4  teaspoon  ground cumin
1/8  teaspoon  salt
1/8  teaspoon  black pepper
1  (19-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1  garlic clove, peeled
Preparation
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth.  Serve with pita bread, crackers, or fresh vegetables.
Nutritional Information
Calories:  108 (30% from fat)
Fat:  3.6g (sat 0.4g,mono 1.2g,poly 1.6g)
Protein:  5g
Carbohydrate:  15g
Fiber:  2.2g
Cholesterol:  0.0mg
Iron:  2mg
Sodium:  144mg
Calcium:  48mg
**recipe courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine – May 2000 issue