Kuwait honours ‘bread heroes’ who kept nation fed during Iraq occupation

Kuwait will begin national celebrations on Saturday as a popular type of bread from the country’s past makes a warm reappearance.

The country will mark its National Day on February 25, with Liberation Day celebrated a day later.

As citizens prepare for the festivities, the Kuwait Flour Mills and Bakeries Company has announced it is reproducing the bread created by volunteers during the Gulf War.

Calling it the “invasion mix” or the “1990 bread mix", the campaign included a promotional video on social media with interviews with some of the volunteers behind the mix.

About 8,000 made the baked good, even though many had no milling or baking experience.

The video resonated with a Kuwaitis who lived through the conflict with Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces.

“We made our own bread in our house during the war,” said Kuwaiti citizen Fouzia Al Shehab.

“But word travels quickly here. We all knew a group of men who knew nothing about bread making were out to take care of people."

One man featured in the video said the volunteer bakers "improvised to ensure the right quantity got to the people".

Many of the volunteers came from administrative backgrounds but, after “mixing and matching” ingredients at the Kuwait Flour Mills, the group found the right mix.

The reproduced bread is packaged in a bag bearing the company’s old logo and a “1990 mix” slogan.

Saddam invaded Kuwait over 30 years ago after the gulf nation resisted his demands to write off $14 billion it lent to Iraq, mostly during the Iraq-Iran war, and to lower oil production.

His forces eventually withdrew from Kuwait after a 42-day war known as “Operation Desert Storm."

Food security was affected during the war and people came up with new ways to eat the bread.

Some had it with an olive spread or cheese, while others dunked it in tea or milk.

The baking project has also resonated with younger Kuwaitis who were not alive during the war.

“I saw the advertisement and wanted to taste this ‘golden brown’ wonder bread people were having during the war," said Abdulla Hussain, 26.

"It’s the only physical thing connecting me to a time my parents and all my siblings went through without me, and it’s something yummy I can eat.

“We hear from many elders and people who survived the war that Kuwaitis went above and beyond during that period."

Ms Al Shehab said that during the war the “spirit of Kuwaiti people quickly came together to make sure we would all survive”.

The state-owned company’s baking initiative is “a beautiful reminder that what we did for each other can still be done today", she said.

Flags and banners will fly high in Kuwait this weekend as the country celebrates 73 years since it was founded and 32 years since its liberation.

“It’s an odd but welcomed sensation to now enjoy a bread created during a war I lived through,” Ms Al Shehab said.

“I get to eat it peacefully now.”