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Sabra Hummus is the Official Dip of the NFL

The Middle Eastern spread is football’s new dip sponsor

by
Stephanie Butnick
July 03, 2013
Assorted hummus dips.(Sabra Dipping Co.)
Assorted hummus dips.(Sabra Dipping Co.)
Assorted hummus dips.(Sabra Dipping Co.)
Assorted hummus dips.(Sabra Dipping Co.)

Rejoice, hummus lovers (and football fans), because Monday Night Football will never be the same. That’s because hummus is now the official dip of the National Football League—Sabra hummus, that is, from the PepsiCo-owned Sabra Dipping Co.—and soon the entirety of this great country will finally know what you’ve known all along: that hummus is delicious.

Bloomberg reports that the sponsorship comes at the same time that the company approved its first U.S. television commercials, presumably part of a wider campaign to make the Middle Eastern spread more palatable to the American masses:

The way Zohar figures it, the path to expanding the hummus category, which he estimates at $700 million to $800 million, will come in three stages. First, get people to dip it. Next, get them to spread it, like on toast. The most recent TV commercials show it being spread like mayo on a cold-cut sandwich. The final step: hummus as a side dish, the way it’s eaten in the Middle East.

So this Fourth of July, ditch the salsa and dig into some hummus instead. It’s the American thing to do.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.