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By Aisha Gawad November 11, 2009 Everybody loves to hate on the Arabs these days, don’t they? For us A-rabs, we must always have a ready line of defense. For years, centuries even, we’ve resorted to using the same tired stories to prove that we contributed more to civilization than the bunch of bearded crazies seen on the news. Our go-to items are usually algebra, guitars, backgammon, cameras, kebabs, and - let’s not forget - the entire Arabic numeral system. In fact, Salon.com compiled a whole A to Z list of all the nifty things we Arabs have invented or contributed. But as cool as all these contributions are, I must admit that using old dead Arab dudes like Ibn Khaldun to defend yourself against accusations of extremism and backwardness can feel a little lame. How about something new, something fresh? I mean we must have done something good in the past couple centuries. So I did a little research and, boy, did I hit the jackpot. How’s the world’s largest vat of hummus for a worthy contribution to civilization? Top that, Greece. And there’s more where that came from (including some accompaniments for the hummus). Here’s a list of some of my favorite Guinness World Records broken recently by Arabs, those heathens: 1. Largest plates of hummus and tabbouleh - Beirut, Lebanon, October 2009: The dishes were prepared by famous Lebanese chef Ramzi Choueiri and 250 of his sous-chefs. The hummus plate weighed 2056 kilograms and the tabbouleh plate weighed in at a whopping 3557 kilograms (that’s a whole lotta parsley), beating Israel’s previous record of 2359 kilograms (hah! take that Israel!). To cap it all off, both dishes were served on the world’s largest plate, designed by Lebanese engineer Joseph Kabalan. Now, they just need to beat Crete’s record for the largest pita bread. http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=107936 2. Largest kunafa cake - Nablus, Palestine, July 2009: First of all ... Mmmm. Bakers in the West Bank town of Nablus used 1,540 pounds of flour and equal amounts of cheese to create this giant syrupy tray of deliciousness. The entire kunafa - a soft cake made of cheese, honey, dough and pistachios - weighed 3,891 pounds. More than 100,000 Palestinian ate from the cake, which took 25 days to prepare. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/07/19/79159.html 3. Largest debka chain - Canada, June 2009: More than 4,000 Lebanese Canadians danced their way to this world record, performed in Montreal. http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/22/76674.html 4. Fastest solo drive across the Sahara - Egypt, March 2009: Egyptian adventurer Hisham Nessim set a new record by driving alone across a dangerous stretch of the Western Desert called the Great Sand Sea to the northern oasis town of Siwa. He completed the 700 km drive in five hours and 33 minutes. http://www2.sis.gov.eg/En/Society/Sport/Modern/guinness/090702080000000001.htm 5. Biggest crossword puzzle - Yemen, January 2008:  Puzzle enthusiast Abdul-Karim Qasem, a Yemeni man in his forties, created the largest crossword puzzle with 320,500 squares because he wanted his country to have an entry in the Guinness Book. http://www.yobserver.com/news-varieties/10013529.html 6. Biggest everything - Dubai: Dubai already has the world’s tallest residential and office buildings, the biggest aquarium, the world’s largest gold ring and the longest gold chain, not to mention an island shaped like a palm tree for Pete’s sake. Now, the Emirate state can add the world’s longest ambulance to the list. The ambulance is 59 feet long (longer than a bus), can hold 44 patients at once and houses an entire operating room. Oh, and it has a helicopter landing pad on the roof. Does it also transform into a scalpel-wielding robo-doctor? Dubai also holds the record for the longest pair of chopsticks (22 feet) in case you were wondering. It looks like my dilemma of finding good comebacks to the stereotyping of my people is definitely solved. In fact, now we’re just showing off. http://www.elanthemag.com/index.php/site/featured_articles_detail/six_things_arabs_can_brag_about_and_algebra_isnt_one_of_them-nid756520046/