SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Imagine this distress call - I want to report some missing chickpeas - like, about 6,150 pounds. Little Sesame, a hot, fast casual restaurant in Washington, D.C., says their latest shipment from a chickpea farmer in Montana named Casey Bailey is missing. UPS says the chickpeas arrived in town on February 24 but never made it to Little Sesame. You'd think half a truckload could be something that would be hard to misplace, the restaurant's co-owner, Nick Wiseman, told City Paper, which calls the caper Garbanzo-gate. The restaurant will run out of Casey Bailey's celebrated chickpeas next week and will have to bring them in from elsewhere. He only grows a certain amount a year, and we're his only direct buyer, Nick Wiseman explained. Anyone who finds 6,150 pounds of chickpeas will be rewarded one year of free hummus. Of course, the best way to hide 6,150 pounds of chickpeas might be just to mash them all into hummus.

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