If there is one distinct feature of Cairo’s polluted streets, it is the impromptu baladi bread vendors who either display their staple in plastic bags on the ground or atop wooden crates on bicycles as vehicles hurry by.
While so much bread on display may indicate that there is more than ample supply of this highly-demanded commodity, it raises questions about the health hazards likely in the midst of smog-filled, traffic congested Cairo streets.
Most of the items sold on the streets are offered in nylon bags, but other loaves are usually left in the open air side by side and exposed to pollutants like dust, smoke and fumes.
“It’s wrong to leave any item, and not only bread, exposed to the effects of air pollution, warned Dr Tarek Reda of the National Nutrition Institute.
“Think about it. With our pollution levels, eating items displayed out in the open is a real health hazard. We can wash vegetables and fruits that are sold on the side of the street, but what about bread? You can’t wash bread, Reda said.
“Think about the flies that can land on the bread . consider the poisonous effect of inhaling lead at petrol stations. The fumes resulting from exhaust pipes are also laden with lead. There is no guarantee they won t affect the unprotected bread, he added.
But Mohamed, a street vendor who sells baladi bread he gets from a private bakery in Tawfikia, says better packaging will not help those looking to make fatta (a popular Egyptian meal made of bread and rice).
“I can’t package it in plastic or anything else, he told The Daily Star Egypt.
“When it is not covered in plastic, the bread becomes crispy and many like it this way for special dishes. Also the crispy bread is ideal for those who don’t use spoons when eating ‘ful’ (fava beans). Just a small piece is hard enough to support the dip, he added.
Like other vendors, Mohamed has likely not pondered the health risks his bread might carry.
He – and others like him – offers bread mostly at the accesses to vegetable markets and metro stations at a time when employees, consumed by fatigue after the rush hour drive back home, would find it more convenient to pick up bread at a vendor’s stand rather than head into a busy market or bakery.
Subsidized baladi bread bakeries, the only known source for consumers, are scattered and could be beyond reach with each catering to an entire district.
Then there comes the question of economics The subsidized baladi bread, considered by the majority of people in Egypt to be the original version of that bran-dominated staple, is sold for 5 piasters a loaf as compared to 25 piasters at a street vendor’s.
“Bread from private bakeries and their street vendors who sell them are definitely more expensive than what you find at subsidized bakeries, said a woman who stopped to buy her bread at a Maadi market.
“But street bread vendors are available everywhere. I don’t have to queue up and wait for my turn. More often, the subsidized bakeries don’t give you a bag to carry your bread in. Because it’s cheap it is quickly sold out, but I have to admit it’s more delicious, she said.
At big supermarkets such as Metro, Abu Zikry, and Ragab & Sons, the bag containing five medium-sized loaves costs LE 1.50. But is there any difference in quality?
“The fact that it’s subsidized and cheaper will give the impression that is the worse, said Khalid Karam who regularly shops at subsidized bakeries to supply his Falfel restaurant in Mohandissin.
“These old subsidized bakeries never compromise on the amount of ‘radda’ (bran) and brown flour that are the healthiest for diabetics and those suffering from colon problems, he added.
“The product of the private bakeries is bigger but it contains more white flour and less bran.
“True, interrupted a man in a suit who must have apparently been following our conversation.
“I can afford the other type but at home they refuse to eat anything other than the original subsidized baladi. Every other day one has to go and buy a quantity.
The only other bread that offers an equal amount of bran is the more expensive, usually unaffordable, toast bread. But some experts have warned that both types might hamper the absorption of calcium.
“Only to a limited degree, said Dr Nagy Sobhi, director of the Maadi Diet Clinic.
“This is because it contains a high percentage of bran which could drain minerals and vitamins as it absorbs the carbohydrates that badly affect diabetics.
But a regular intake of milk could make up for the loss of calcium, added Sobhi.
