Men, women and children, rich and poor, rain or shine, stop by multiple times daily at their closest bakery for fresh bread to accompany their meals.
“In Afghanistan, without bread, eating a meal with others is incomplete,” said Mohammad Masi, 28, while picking up several rounds on his way home on his bike on a recent chilly night.
“Bread is one of Afghanistan’s most beloved and famous foods,” he said.
Thick halves of homemade hardy loaves dotted the colourful cloth spread on the floor of Beg Murad Nabizada’s home in eastern Kabul, where he shares evening meals with his family of four.
Most days it is the only time they can eat together.
“We prefer to make our bread at home because it’s baked with our own hands,” 51-year-old Nabizada said, scooping up rice, beans and salad between pieces of bread.
“Since I was born I have never gone a day without bread, thank God,” he said. “Even if we had nothing else, we always had a piece of bread.”
Breakfast, lunch and dinner
For many in Afghanistan — one of the poorest countries in the world where 12.4 million people live in acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme — bread makes up the largest part of meals.
