Paper short abstract:

In this paper I will concentrate on working class Egyptian families and examine the creative ways in which some of the men and women I met during the revolution in Tahrir in January and February 2011, and later in the summer of 2011, construct alternative forms of supporting their families and community in the midst of poverty and rising food prices. It describes household´s food habits, links them to large-scale economic processes, and assays through them social relationships and affective ties in households and local communities.

Paper long abstract:

Revolutions create new possibilities and relationships. This paper begins with an ethnographic account of food distribution in Cairo during the "25 January revolution." Food, especially bread, served not only to feed and please, but the circulation of food also created new spaces and human intimacies for men and women during the three weeks of economic dislocation.

Description and analysis of the distribution and eating of bread - the most important food in Egyptian households - illustrates how through the mundane rounds of daily living we eventually gain insight into the complexities of transformations in the economy and social life of men and women in Egypt. In this paper I will concentrate on working class families and examine the creative ways in which some of the men and women I met in Tahrir, and later in the summer of 2011, construct alternative forms of supporting their families and community in the midst of poverty and rising food prices. It describes household´s bread habits, links them to large-scale economic processes, and assays through them social relationships and affective ties in households and local communities.