Traditional Manousheh Leaves Tables in Poverty-Hit Lebanon

A manousheh 'used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000,' Abu Shadi said - AFP
A manousheh 'used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000,' Abu Shadi said - AFP
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Traditional Manousheh Leaves Tables in Poverty-Hit Lebanon

A manousheh 'used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000,' Abu Shadi said - AFP
A manousheh 'used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000,' Abu Shadi said - AFP

Scattering spinach and hot chilli onto fluffy flatbread in Lebanon's capital, 54-year-old Abu Shadi bemoans better times before the economic crisis when all Lebanese could afford his simple meals.

The veteran baker is famed for his take on Lebanon's manousheh, a circle of freshly baked dough sprinkled with anything from thyme to meat, then folded in half and rolled in paper to go.

But Lebanon's worse financial crunch in decades has sent prices soaring, and Abu Shadi says many of his customers of three decades can no longer afford even this modest pastry.

"Since I started working at this oven in 1987, it's been nothing but goodness and blessings. But today, all that has gone," he said, AFP reported.

On the phone, he warmly receives a stream of orders.

He jokes with a customer as he waits for his breakfast, and from inside his shop waves at an acquaintance as they drive by in their car.

Looking up from time to time from the flatbreads he heaps with filling, he greets the old and young as they walk by.

He hums loudly, only pausing to compliment an elderly lady on her blonde hairstyle.

But nowadays, Abu Shadi turns down the heat in his oven once he has baked enough manaeesh (plural form of manousheh) to save on gas.

Long gone are the days when he fired up the oven at 8:00 am, and did not turn it off till 3:00 pm.

"The manousheh is both a father and mother to the Lebanese people. It's food for the rich and the poor," he said.

"Sadly at the moment, the poor can no longer afford to eat it," he said.

Tens of thousands have lost their jobs or a huge part of their income in the financial crunch, which has caused the Lebanese currency to lose more than 85 percent of its value.

A manousheh "used to cost between 1,000 to 1,500 pounds ($0.66 to $1), but now it's 5,000."

The new price is less than $0.50 at the black market rate for a lucky few with access to dollars, but most Lebanese earn wages in the local currency -- and see that as up to five times the normal price.

The baker says that for three decades, customers have streamed in at weekends, ordering up to seven or eight manaeesh to take away for a traditional family breakfast.

But over the past few months, those customers have stopped coming altogether.

"Manaeesh are now only for the well off," he said.

"Whoever earns 30,000 or 40,000 pounds a day is not going to spend 5,000 on a thyme manousheh. They have other expenses."

But Abu Shadi has been forced to raise his prices to cover the increasing cost of supplies, from flour and cheese to the paper he wraps the manousheh in.

"We used to live a cushy life, but people's living situations have really slumped," he said.

"We've never seen anything like it."

But one customer, Mahmoud, says he will continue to buy the bread he has grown to love, "whatever the cost".

"Whoever is used to Abu Shadi's manaeesh cannot replace it," he said, between bites of one filled with cheese and meat.

Abu Shadi has been helped by the fact that his customers keep coming back.

But he says he has not been forced to close like other small bakers since he does the job on his own.

"After all this time and effort, I'm only still going because I work for myself," he said.

"The money others pay to their staff, I keep to live off."

"I have nothing but my hands and God."



EU Official: 175 Mn Euro Syria Recovery Package 'Clear Message' of Support

EU Commissioner for Mediterranean Dubravka Suica arrives to attend a College of Commissioners meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)
EU Commissioner for Mediterranean Dubravka Suica arrives to attend a College of Commissioners meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)
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EU Official: 175 Mn Euro Syria Recovery Package 'Clear Message' of Support

EU Commissioner for Mediterranean Dubravka Suica arrives to attend a College of Commissioners meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)
EU Commissioner for Mediterranean Dubravka Suica arrives to attend a College of Commissioners meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels on May 21, 2025. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

Visiting EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica said Thursday that a 175 million euro package for war-torn Syria was a "clear message" of support for its reconstruction.

Suica announced the package in Damascus Wednesday, saying it would focus on sectors including energy, education, health and agriculture, helping rebuild Syria's economy, support its institutions and promote human rights.

"I came here... with a clear message that we are here to assist and help Syria on its recovery," Suica told AFP in an interview on Thursday.

"We want that reconstruction and recovery will be Syria-owned and Syria-led," she said, on the first visit by an EU commissioner since a transitional government was unveiled in late March.

"We want to see Syria to be a regular, normal, democratic country in the future," she added.

The European Union announced last month it would lift economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help its recovery.

"This is a pivotal moment -- a new chapter in EU-Syria relations," Suica said on X, calling her meeting with interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa "constructive".

Like Syria's neighbors, Western governments are keen to steer it onto the road to stability after the war triggered an exodus of millions of refugees.

Refugee returns should be "safe, voluntary and dignified", Suica said.

The EU has not designated Syria as a safe country for returns "because we don't want to push people to come here and then they don't have a home", she said.