Was there a Texan chickpea puree dish that evolved independently of hummus? (Enjoyed by LBJ, much to the consternation of Chef René Verdon.)

by Maklodes

I read that when the Johnsons moved into the White House, they had some conflict with the Kennedys' White House Executive Chef, René Verdon, because they had rather "Texas home cooking" tastes (e.g., barbecued spareribs).

The last straw, allegedly, was when the Johnsons asked for a cold garbanzo bean puree.

Was this just hummus, but the journalists writing about the incident in 1965 didn't use that word because they thought that not enough Americans would know what that was? Or is there some home-spun Texan garbanzo bean puree that evolved independently?

I tried Googling a bit, with some stuff like "'lyndon johnson' hummus," "texas garbanzo puree," and some other combinations, but didn't find anything illuminating.

crocsandcargos

Verdon seems to have resigned in December 1965, NYTimes reported the "cold garbanzo bean puree" detail in January 1966.

Reading the various news releases regarding LBJ & Veron, there seemed to be a big clash between Verdon's French Cuisine and the basic/bland tastes of the Johnson's. I would hypothesize that the difference between traditional hummus and LBJ's garbanzo puree would be all of the other ingredients, but namely Tahini.