A loaf of "living" in the life of Egyptians ... from sanctification to a reason for political protest

Hassan Al-Masry - Cairo

It is closely related to the life of the Egyptians to the point that they call it their local dialect "living" .. It is the bread that is the main denominator in the food of the Egyptians, and its importance and impact have extended to the extent that it is the cause of popular revolutions and grants, and it becomes a major chanting in the most prominent revolution in Egyptian history.

Here is the revolution of January 25, 2011, which came out to make its goals "living" (bread), freedom and social justice, and before the bread uprising in 1977 that occurred during the rule of the late President Anwar Sadat after raising the price of several basic commodities provided by bread.

Bread for the ancient Egyptians
Since ancient times, the ancient Egyptians were keen on documenting their deep relationship with bread, so it appears in the myth of Isis and Osiris, as Isis was making bread for her husband to signify love and loyalty, and here is Harris papyrus - one of the largest and longest ancient Egyptian papyri preserved in the British Museum now - confirms the presentation of ancient Egyptians About 30 varieties of bread as offerings to their deity Amun during the reign of Ramses III.

"Ancient Egyptian inscriptions highlight the ancient Egyptian manufacture of bread 7000 years ago until the species he knows has reached about 100 according to historical sources. Also, the ancient Egyptian is known to be the first to know yeast since 4000 BC", according to tourism expert Nabil Mohamed told the island Net.

The ancient Egyptian knew the methods of fermenting and making bread from yeast, barley, and wheat, as well as methods of baking, where the shapes and sizes varied from flat to rectangular or triangular and conical, but also in the form of birds and fish as well.

Muhammad explained to Al-Jazeera Net that over time, bread has transformed into a cultural heritage that varies from one governorate to another. There are now Alexandrian, Newbie, Saidi, Shamsi, Al-Falahi bread, bread, barley bread, muddurah, tin liver and other types with their names, nature and different forms.

According to the latest statistics on Egyptians ’consumption of bread, it appears that the average household’s share of subsidized municipal bread is 11.4 loaves per day, at a rate of 9.6 loaves in urban areas and 12.3 in the countryside, according to the results of the Income and Expenditure Survey for the 2017-2018 year.

Solar
"There are many types of bread, but the most prominent and oldest is the solar bread that appears clearly in the monuments in Giza Governorate in the form of inscriptions and drawings that highlight the ancient Egyptian bakery during the third century BC, the type that women in southern Egypt continue to bake until the present time, by inheriting from Ancient Egyptians thousands of years ago, "according to archaeologist Abdullah Zoghbi.

Zoghbi adds in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that women in Upper Egypt "still maintain the same striking methods in the foot in which the bread of the solar loaf is baked, which begins from preparing and preparing the leaven and forming dough in the form of circular discs on a pallet using hands or a wooden tool and then inserting The dough to the oven, "stressing that the basking stage for baking is the most important, during which the dough is placed in an open place in front of the sun, in order for the bread to ripen and dry.

He continued that in the Delta of Egypt and some areas of Upper Egypt, the people also used to eat bakum bread or agricultural livelihood appropriate to the nature of the delta in which the ancient Egyptian peasant lived, where women made this kind of bread using wheat flour. There is also the Patau life, which is the word hieroglyphic meaning the bread of the gods, where the ancient Egyptians were revered during this time, and it resembles solar bread, but it differs in its modus operandi which relies on sorghum. This type of bread was the food of the ancient and wealthy statesmen of the ancient Egyptians.

According to the archaeological expert, there are 40 types of bread spread in various Egyptian governorates, such as the saj bread in the Sinai regions made from wheat flour, and the Dumbert bread that is baked on stones, and there are also barley bread made from barley flour, and these two types are spread in the New Valley Governorate In the area of ​​Halayeb, there is also bread-making in Matruh.

Zogby points out that each type of bread tells the heritage of the region in which it is found, its diversity and its difference from others in terms of the nature of agriculture and how to coexist with that nature, by making different and varied types of bread that are well received by the people of the region.