In Egypt, skyrocketing bread prices puts Cairo on alert

In Egypt, where leavened bread was born 5,000 years ago, pita remains a diet staple. It comes out of the ovens at dawn to be sold on every street corner. Round and flat, it is eaten with tomatoes and cucumbers. Its distribution, heavily dependent on state aid, sees two-thirds of the 105 million Egyptians benefiting from a subsidized rate.

However, its price, unchanged since 1988, just quadrupled in June, increasing the cost…