A baker’s tale: A Beirut landmark struggles to survive unending crises

A baker’s tale: A Beirut landmark struggles to survive unending crises

BEIRUT — The way Robert Ghattas sees it, he owes his life to the humble manousheh.Since 1982, the artisanal baker has spent his days serving up dozens of varieties of the traditional doughy flatbread — as ubiquitous on Lebanese breakfast tables as a croissant in Paris or a bagel in New York. The earnings from his tiny Beirut bakery helped carry his family through wars and economic downturns and paved the way for his two sons to study and ultimately settle abroad. The bakery, he said, was like his third child.Support our journalism. Subscribe today.arrow-rightBut in the past year, a devastating economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic have converged in Lebanon, pushing many businesses close to ruin. When an enormous explosion struck the beleaguered capital in August, killing nearly 200