Breaking with tradition is tough. Dena Rashed reports on the move to 'modernise' Egypt's bread "Break my heart but don't come near my bread," goes the Egyptian proverb. Traditional Egyptian bread is an integral part of our life; without it, no meal is complete. Round and tasty, it is hard to believe that anything about this bread should be changed. Which is why successive governments have balked at the idea of modernising the traditional bakeries of urban Egypt. Recently, however, the Ministry of Supply and Interior Trade has decided to bite the bullet and is planning to introduce partially automated systems into traditional bakeries. Traditional methods use mud ovens fuelled by gasoline or solar (low-grade gasoline) to bake the bread, whereas the partially automated version is fuelled by the more environmentally friendly electricity. Both types of bakeries, however, use the same kind of dough for the bread. The deadline for introducing the new system was this week, and those who have not yet made the change will not be allowed to purchase subsidised wheat flour supplied by the ministry. While many bakers acknowledge the benefits of the new system, they still plan to stick to the traditional techniques. In a narrow alley in the Cairo district of Abdin stands Mohamed Kamel in his traditional bakery. "I have been in the business for 40 years and from the very beginning I chose to work in traditional bakeries," he told Al- Ahram Weekly. Kamel is intimately familiar with every detail of the baking process. "I know that the partially automated bakeries are, in a way, better than traditional baking methods in terms of cutting costs," he added, pointing out, that many factors prevent the modernisation of old bakeries. One of the major factors is electricity. There is no sure-fire way of preventing power cuts, and being totally dependent on one type of energy source would of course affect production. Kamel believes there could be a severe bread shortage as a result of electricity cuts. Every year the government spends LE3 billion on bread subsidies. One hundred and eighty million loaves of bread are produced every day and the government imports five million tons of wheat annually to cover demand for subsidised bread. Many bakeries buy a certain quota of subsidised wheat from the Ministry of Supply and Interior Trade. Hashem Ezzeddin, the owner of an old traditional bakery, has chosen to buy his own flour and not to depend on the subsidised flour of the government. "The bakeries that bake bread with the subsidised flour must abide by the rules of the ministry," said Ezzeddin adding that, "although the price of the non-subsidised flour doubles my costs [subsidised is LE32 per bag, unsubsidised LE60] it makes me more independent," he told the Weekly. His wife Mobarka Saad, who runs the bakery when he is not around, insisted that she would never give up their traditional bakery for a partially automated one. "We were offered money from the ministry, as a loan, to help us change, but we refused. We are satisfied with the return on our daily production, so why change?" she said. Along with the eight workers in their shop, Ezzeddin and Saad seem to have organised their lives to their satisfaction, so they do not feel the urge to change. There are also structural difficulties associated with the new system. "Just look around," Saad urged, "the place is too old to be renovated." Introducing new machinery into the bakery would involve renovating the old worn-out ceilings, and walls -- which would basically entail building a new bakery. Many of Cairo's traditional bakeries are located in low income districts and, more significantly, in old buildings. For Kamel too the location of the building housing the bakery makes it very difficult to carry out renovations. "Buildings in this area are very close to each other, which makes it very difficult to renovate one without affecting the other," he said. Not to mention the additional costs associated with acquiring the new machinery. Funding the new machinery at a cost of LE17,000 to LE25,000 makes the conversion a difficult choice for many bakers. "Not everyone would like to take out a loan to develop his bakery," he added, "In recognition of these challenges the ministry has given us a grace period in which to make the change. But they know that at the end of the day we can not comply with the requirements." Furthermore, widespread introduction of the new system puts the jobs of many bakers at risk. Kamel employs a staff of 12 and he would need a lot less if he were to modernise. The quality of the bread is also a hotly debated issue. "I personally refuse to change to the new system because the quality of the bread from traditional mud ovens is much better. The bread inside the mud oven gets moved around, which means you can monitor the amount of heat applied to the dough. In the partially automated system you just wait at the other side of the machine for the conveyor belt to deliver the finished product," said Ezzeddin, "Since I care more for the quality, I will be sticking to the traditional method," he added. On the other hand, the new system is much faster than the old. "It only takes a minute and a half to get bread out of the new oven, compared with three minutes in the traditional method," explained Saddam El- Sewifi, a baker operating the new system. He used to work in a traditional bakery until making the switch a few years ago. "I realised that the work at the semi-automated machine is less strenuous physically, certainly an asset as one gets older," said El-Sewifi. Either way though, he believes that bakers do not receive adequate pay for their jobs. "The average rate for a senior baker is LE20 per day, which is insufficient for the amount of work we do ," he added. Progress is well and good, but as Zidan Mohamed, a senior baker, put it "While it is very natural to change, some people just find it hard to give up the traditions they have grown up with."
