Aish baladi - Egyptian Local Bread Photo

Photographer’s Note

Continuing with my series from the streets of Alexandria I bring you today the Egyptian local bread.

The staples of the Egyptian diet are bread ('aish', which also means "life"), fuul and taamiya. Bread is eaten with all meals and snacks and comes either as a pitta-type 'aish shamsi' (sun raised bread made from white flour) or 'aish baladi' (made from coarse wholewheat flour). This bread is round, 15-20 cms in diameter and 1-2 cms thick. It can be machine-made or hand-made. Hand-made bread is enriched with a thin layer of bran sprinkled on the lower layer. The loaves are sold individually and come in different textures: soft, dry, and very dry. The bread is used to scoop up various kinds of food. Very dry bread can be softened by wetting it under running water then passing it over a naked flame.

Here you can see recipes for diferent kinds of Egyptian local bread.

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More interesting stuff I found about bread:

Bread in Ancient Egypt
by Jane Howard

Ancient Egyptians, depending on their wealth and status, could have a varied diet, but central to their nourishment was bread and beer. From very early on, both were consumed at every meal, by everyone, and no meal was considered complete without them. Bread, nutritionally, provided protein, starch and trace nutrients, and it also played much the same role as beer in the Egyptian economy as well as in cult rituals.

You can read more here.

ChrisJ, pen, papagolf21, Didi, carper, zeynepe, feather, Photo65Net, COSTANTINO, shevchenko, bostankorkulugu, paura, Cricri, Emile, ang25, stego, jafadabret, westcoastgirl1 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

ChrisJ (71614) 2008-12-29 1:32

Hi Ricardo

A good daily life scene of the Egyptian bread vendors, with superb colour, sharpness, & pov. Parabens!

chicca (356) 2008-12-29 1:37

Holà Ricardo!
Bella e vivace immagine della vita quotidiana egiziana.
Entusiasmanti i colori!

Buona giornata, Federica

jasmis (52354) 2008-12-29 1:39

Superb reporters' photo. Fine high pov. Dynamic situation.
Regards!

pen (464) 2008-12-29 1:41

Hi Ricardo,
Nice capture of an ordinary daily life. People are just busy doing their thing, unmindful of what you're doing. Great street photog. By the way this type of bread is so common on the countries of the middle east especially here in Saudi Arabia, not to mention these ful, tamiyah and homous. Great job ricardo TFS

Pedro

papagolf21 (57785) 2008-12-29 2:40

Bonjour, mon ami Ricardo,
Très intéressante image, nous sommes plongés au coeur de la vie quotidienne. Les explications relatives à la fabrication de ces galettes de pain sont excellentes.
Un très bon reportage (je ne sais pas si l'homme portant un pull jaune a bien voulu se baisser pour permettre de donner de la perspective à la composition) ! ?
À l'aube du Nouvel An, accepte de tout coeur les voeux les plus chaleureux pour une année exceptionnelle : santé, bonheur et prospérité !
Amitiés.
Philippe

Didi (37199) 2008-12-29 3:15

Olà Ricardo
I remmember this kind of delicious bread Aish Baladi, but now it's made with refined flour, before it was better and more healthy
Nice locale picture scene.
Best greetings while waiting the new year.
Obrigado.

robiuk (10767) 2008-12-29 3:16

... talking about the EU and health & safety measures, when it comes to quality and taste, I would always go for this bread rather than tasteless sliced variety!
Nice dynamic POV, but I wish the man in red wasn't there obscuring the other guy (the one with the ciggy tucked in
behind his ear).
I also like this wooden stand for keeping bread.
Cheers,
Robi

carper (67302) 2008-12-29 3:31

very nice image of this street life Ricardo,
there is a lot to see in the shot when I see the bread I must think about the shoarma meat, a fine photo. Ricardo I wish you and your family a good 2009.
regard jaap

zeynepe (9442) 2008-12-29 3:48

Selam Ric,
We have the same too :)it is called "lavas" , we eat it hot !mmm very delicious!!!Generally eat with butter & "tulum cheese" and kebap.I am getting hungry :D
But in this place, the sanitary condition (different from Istanbul) is bad .That's why their immune system are strong.A good timing for this shot, a nice spontaneous daily life scene.
Abraços,
Zeynep

tober (4336) 2008-12-29 5:38

Hi Ricardo, this photo makes me feel hungry at lunch time. And also, having read Zeynep's reference to "tulum peyniri" above, my hungerness multiplied three times :)

Very typical street shot in the daily life of Egypt.

Best regards,

Tolga

xuaxo (6083) 2008-12-29 5:40

Olá Ricardo
Gosto de ver, inclusive os detalhes atrás. Mas acho que a foto não resultou muito bem, por causa de estar muito perto, a posição do rapaz e sem um pé, os outros à esquerda cortados.
Parecem muitas críticas, mas não. Em geral está muito interessante e sei que é difícil fotografar nestes ambientes muito movimentados.
Curioso as notas nas mãos.
Cumprimentos
..-. .-. .- -. -.-. .. ... -.-. ---

jmdias (20959) 2008-12-29 6:20

ricardo

vc esqueceu de dizer que este pão vem com toda a flora intestinal incluída, incluindo muitos cloriformes fecais. Dá uma olhada nas mãos do vendeiro coma s notas na mão, as mesmas que tocarão o pão. enfim, é do tipo alimento suicida, só os estômagos nativos estão à salvo de uma coisa deste tipo. Já quanto à foto, bela cena de rua, luz perfeita e suave, belo enquadramento levando em conta que a vida corre e o fotógrafo apanha o que pode da cena.

abraços

jorge

feather (51026) 2008-12-29 6:24

I think this is my favourite Alexandria image so far, probably as there is plenty of action. I particularly like the guy bending down but watching something else. There is also so much to see in the background too. A very interesting and informative post.
Kath

Photo65Net (43106) 2008-12-29 6:42

Hello Ricardo,
Nice street catch.
I like how you catch these breads and the people around.
Have a nice day,
JB.

shevchenko (10511) 2008-12-29 18:24

Hi Ricardo,
Same as my country, many hawkers collecting money and packing food with their hands without tongs, and here I can see they are smokers too. That is why I always eat hot food in soup or fried, to make sure all bacteria die, haha..........Nice to see other stalls at background, thanks for sharing.
Ally

bostankorkulugu (34562) 2008-12-29 23:45

they have the same bread in cyprus also... an eastern mediterranean thing rather than egyptian i think... i could go for a pita -or bitta as cyprtiots call it- with some halloumi cheese in it...
beautiful daily life shot rcrd... cheers... krkt

Graal (60312) 2008-12-29 23:48

Hi Ricardo,
amazing scenery and scene, good reportage. Well photojob. I like it.
Happy New Year to You and family!
Aleksander

paura (40841) 2008-12-30 8:07

Ricardo,
Estou aqui pensando se estão aí cumpridas algumas formalidades de higiene ... A photo grafia tem uma imagem bonita e bem captada.

Abraço

Paulo

Cricri (45241) 2008-12-30 10:29

Hola Ric
Voila qui me plaît mieux :-) avec une note trés intéressante, sympat aussi le garçon qui s'abaisse au bon moment pour avoir une vue plus profonde, beaucoup de détails et scéne
Good evening for you
cricri

Emile (20189) 2008-12-30 19:35

Hola Ricardo.
Excellent daily life shot from one of the street of Alexandria, very well captured with good colors, light and POV. Good details and sharpness. Looks like it's a very busy street.
TFS.
Wish you a Happy New Year and good health, peace and prosperity in 2009.
Greetings from Dominican Republic.

Bluejeans (34486) 2009-01-09 10:44

Oi Ricardo ,
No Egipto não deve ter a ASAE se não era uma limpeza total nestas ruas , estas ruas devem ser muito interessantes de visitar devemos ver todo o tipo de coisas para vender , este rapaz se deve estar a esconder da policia :), parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

stego (22514) 2009-01-09 12:37

Olá Ricardo,
Vou aproveitar enquanto estás ausente para por a escrita em dia.
Como bom alentejano, sou grande apreciador de pão, e pelo que vi, o dos países árabes ou afins é do melhor que há. Enfim, não é só para agradar à Zeynep, mas os turcos tb. não se saem mal. Este aqui tem um aspecto delicioso.
Como é inevitável, há um ou outro pormenor que noutras situações causaria alguns estragos, como o homem cortado à esquerda e o pés tb. cortado à direita, ou a OE ao fundo, mas neste tipo de fotografia, já é excelente quando a compo não fica uma confusão, quanto mais ter a veleidade de querer controlar cortes aqui e ali! Denotas aqui um sentido de oportunidade e "rapidez de composição" notáveis!
Um abraço, José.

jafadabret (41625) 2009-03-08 10:55

Bonjour Ricardo.
J'ai eu l'occasion de photographier une boulangère du Caire en plein air. C'est vrai que ce pain est très spécial mais délicieux.
Beau travail avec cette photo reportage !
Jacques

Urs (4042) 2009-10-26 4:37

Ola Ricardo

Are you going to boost my hunger??? I like this kind of bread a lot especially when it still is hot. So far I have not made it to Egypt but I have visited and lived in other Muslim countries. Even Malaysia claims to be Muslim nation but I do not buy it, there are perhaps 55-60% Muslim, that's all. There is no problem with colors nor sharpness, but I first saw tilting buildings, in the right upper corner, but then I looked to left, everything perfect. Possibly it is the lens e.g. a wide angle I do not not, but it does not border me at all. Well done - great photo daily life job.

Friendly regards
Urs

westcoastgirl1 (2152) 2009-11-27 3:19

Hi Ricardo

I was looking forward to seeing this photo as I have never been to Eygpt before. I wasn't disappointed. Great write-up. I love to learn new things. Great view of the bread. Did you try it? Excellent POV. I can get a glimpse of the street and all the action there.

Take care,
Tosca