I only knew chickpea or garbanzo as sweets served along with sumang malagkit (rice cake), leche flan (custard) and ube (purple yum) during fiestas in the Philippines. I didn't know that half way around the globe here in the middle east and in other parts of Asia, chickpea is used to prepare several dishes. One of them is the tasty falafel and another is my favorite meze the hummus. Chickpeas are high in protein and considered as one of the earliest cultivated vegetable.
Falafel is a good substitute to rice and sometimes when I don't want to eat rice I order some falafel from the nearby Safadi restaurant. It is very filling.
Hummus is a meze that I love the most, I can finish a whole plate of it. It is very nutritious, it is a good source of protein and dietary fiber, it is mixed with tahini that is made of sesame seeds making it rich in amino acids and olive oil and lemon. It is mostly eaten with Arabic bread or you can also dip you falafel in it.