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Case file

Bsisa

Wikipedia's first sentence called it “typical north african food”. Today it says “fine powder made from roasted barley and legumes”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Tunisian-Libyan dish Tunisian”. It now reads “North African dish Tunisian”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since. Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now. 1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023

Bsisa Tunisian Bsisa of Msaken with grilled wheat, olive oil and dried fruits Bsisa ( , Berber aḍemmin ) is a typical Mediterranean food, based on flour of roasted barley which dates back to Roman times. Bsisa is a variety of mixtures of roasted cereals ground with fenugreek and aniseed and cumin and sugar.1 This kind of food is known throughout Tunisia and Libya . Its history goes back a long way, and travellers and nomads used to take bsisa with them on their journeys since it was both full of nutritional value and easy to carry in its ground powder form. The herbs and spices that are added to the mixture can vary, and the mixtures can also be used as a liquid when added to milk or water, creating a strongly floured drink called Rowina. The most common use for bsisa is to mix them with olive oil into a paste. This is then typically eaten with dates or figs for a quick meal which is energy-rich and healthy. 'Howira' is a similar mixture to Bsisa, however of a darker complexion and consists of similar ingredients. It is eaten by Tunisian and Libyan muslims and Jews on various occasions, and especially the first day of the Hebrew month of Nisan as this is the day the Mishkan ( tabernacle ) was erected (in this case, the food is named bsiset el-marquma or simply Bsisa). The food is powder that consists of wheat and barley, which represents the mortar used to build the Mishkan. Additionally, the mother of the household puts her gold ring into the Bsisa, recalling the gold that was also used in the building of the Mishkan. Before eating the bsisa, the father of the household blesses in Arabic while he mixes the Bsisa using the key to his house with oil, recalling the oil used in the Mishkan This symbolizes the "opening" of the 'new year' The father and family recite in turn: Ya fetach, Bla Neftach, Arzekna warzek menna Ya atai, Bla mena!2 Vermondo Brugnatelli, "Elementi per uno studio dell'alimentazione nelle regioni berbere", in: D. Pinto (a c. di), Saperi e sapori mediterranei. La cultura dell'alimentazione e i suoi riflessi linguistici (Napoli, 13-16 ottobre 1999) , Napoli, 2002, vol. Mordekhai Cohen, Gli ebrei in Libia.3

This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1107776427.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “typical north african food”. Today it says “fine powder made from roasted barley and legumes”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Tunisian-Libyan dish Tunisian”. It now reads “North African dish Tunisian”. Read the current article and compare.
201020152020Oct '232025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.

What Wikipedia says this is

Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.

Then

typical north african food

Now

fine powder made from roasted barley and legumes

Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.

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