One of my favorite email digests I receive every day is from ProMEDmail, the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases. It's an endless source of story ideas, from chikungunya to bipartisan bacteria to lab accidents. (Not to mention pygmy rabbits.)

One thing I don't expect to see on ProMEDmail is recipes. But when foodborne illness strikes, as it did on a report from Jordan that went out with yesterday's digest, ProMED's culinary moderators step in. More than 300 people in the northern Jordanian governorate of Jerash got sick after eating one restaurant's hummus. That prompted a discussion of the classic Middle Eastern dish:

"Hummus is a creamy puree of chickpeas and tahini (sesame seed paste) seasoned with lemon juice and garlic, and is a popular spread and dip in Greece and throughout the Middle East. It can be garnished in many ways, including sprinkling paprika, parsley, cumin (popular in Egypt), pine nuts (traditional in Palestinian hummus), tomatoes, cucumber, thinly sliced onions, sauteed mushrooms, or with whole chickpeas over the top before drizzling with olive oil."

They didn't mention whether it can be drizzled with salmonella, cholera, or norovirus. I'll eagerly wait for the next installment.