Traditional manousheh leaves tables in poverty-hit Lebanon

BEIRUT — Scattering spinach and hot chili onto fluffy flatbread in Lebanon’s capital, 54-year-old Abu Shadi bemoans better times before the economic crisis when all Lebanese could afford his simple meals.
The veteran baker is famed for his take on Lebanon’s manousheh, a circle of freshly baked dough sprinkled with anything from thyme to meat, then folded in half and rolled in paper to go.
But Lebanon’s worse financial crunch in decades has sent prices soaring, and Abu Shadi says many of his customers of three decades can no longer afford even this modest pastry.