A growing cost of living crisis, lingering impacts of the pandemic, the nearly six-month war in Ukraine and battered global supply chains are among the reasons for grocery shortages. Here are just a few beloved missing items from stores around the globe:
Lebanon was already crippled by a financial crisis and a 2020 port explosion that wiped out its grain silos. The cutoff in wheat exports from Ukraine has worsened shortages of state-subsidized pita bread — disc-shaped loaves that are found on tables everywhere across the Middle East.The shortages have led to lines forming outside bakeries — with fights breaking out at times.
“It affects not just us, as bakeries, but everyone. Bread is the most important thing,” said an employee at a bakery in Beirut, who asked not to be identified to speak candidly without his employer’s permission. “People are used to buying many loaves, and now they might come in on a Sunday to find none. It’s upsetting.”
Several other countries in the region, including Egypt and war-torn Yemen, which relied on Ukraine for wheat, have also seen shortages or price hikes. Because of its status as a staple for local cuisine and its importance in poorer communities, bread, or rather its price, can often be political. The word Egyptians use for it — “aysh,” Arabic for “living” or “subsistence” — became part of a protest chant during the 2011 uprising.