Gordon Ramsay’s Egypt street food pick is getting harder to afford

Gordon Ramsay’s Egypt street food pick is getting harder to afford

Not even Egypt’s cheap and cheerful national dish, beloved by everyone from street-sweepers to TV chef Gordon Ramsay, is proving immune to the country’s economic turmoil.

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Carb-heavy and meat-free, koshary has sustained cash-strapped Egyptians through trying times for decades. The recipe is simple: Take a generous heap of boiled rice, pasta and lentils, top with fried onions and douse in a garlicky tomato sauce with a splash of vinegar.

In the North African country of some 104 million people, this so-called “food of the poor” is served up at ramshackle street-carts, neon-lit fast-food outlets and even in deluxe form at a new fine-dining venue by the Pyramids.

Ramsay expressed his appreciation on Twitter and fellow celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain tucked in during his travel-food show No Reservations.

When protesters took to Cairo’s streets during the 2011 Arab Spring, tubs of koshary kept their sit-ins going. With ingredients that are easy to source and cook, it’s a firm favorite in Egyptian homes.

That simplicity, though, isn’t protecting the dish from Egypt’s fastest rise in consumer prices in more than five years. Bloomberg’s new Koshary Index shows the average price of ingredients for a