Hummus Cabot Pita

Title: Hummus Cabot Pita

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Scott Bohn is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2018, from Minnetonka, Minnesota. Scott was born in Mexico, but raised in Minnesota. At Dartmouth, he studies Computer Science and History, and plays club hockey. When he is older, his dream is to live in a cabin in the woods in Minnesota, next to a lake, with a dog. In his freshman summer, he participated in trail crew, a group of trail maintenance people based out of a cabin next to the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. As a result, he went on many week-long backpacking trips in the outdoors to help repair trails for the Dartmouth Outing Club.

Contextual Data:

Cultural Context: Backpackers must get creative with their food recipes as food options are relatively limited, and often the same types of food. They must carry foods that are non-perishable, which leads to a lack of variety, and a lack of fresh foods in general. Hummus and hard cheeses are popular options that add variety to meals and keep relatively in a variety of temperatures.
Social Context: This specific recipe was mentioned when the interviewee was asked for food recipes. Backpackers and groups often share food recipes with each other to increase variety in the woods.

Item:

The Hummus Cabot Pita is a special hiking food recipe that would not be consumed in reasonable circumstances. It is a pita bread with hummus, cabot, and sesame sticks added for texture. Due to the limitations of backpacking food, this recipe, and many other eccentric ones, are eaten by backpackers to add variety and experiment with combinations of flavors and textures.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Relevant portion: [7:15 – 7:55]

Transcript of Associated file:

“Luckily for us, we went a week at a time so if the food could last, we could get it and bring it to our campsite and keep it there. So we didn’t have to be as light as a thru-hiker might necessarily need to be. So strangely enough, hummus tends to last about a week, week and a half so one thing that I remember pretty clearly on is pita, hummus, cabot, and that’s it. And maybe some of that, what’s that, it’s like sesame sticks, right? Whatever crack is called. Sesame sticks, maybe that thrown on for texture but I ate that maybe everyday for three months and I don’t think I ever want it again.”

Collector’s Comments:

The creativity in food recipes stems mostly from lack of variety in backpacking, or camping foods that are lightweight and calorie-dense.

Collector’s Name: Kyu Kim

Tags/Keywords: Material, food recipe, hummus, pita, cabot

Dartmouth Folklore Archive