No bread? Let them eat cake

““Let them eat cake.”¹

Well mud cakes for that matter, for break fast, lunch and dinner.

Haitian woman sells mud cakes

Haitians seem to have resorted to eating mud cakes after basic amenities like (rice, beans and milk) became unaffordable. Rising oil prices meant unaffordable food prices, specially in the Caribbean where most of the food is imported. The mud cakes rich in calcium, meant to soothe indigestion is to be used as a staple diet instead.

Read the story from Associated Press, 29 January 2008.

A rivetting photo essay is here

¹This quote (qu’ils mangent de la brioche) is popularly attributed to Marie Antoinette, a french queen from the 17^th century who supposedly said it when approached about the populace not having bread. There are still various versions of this quote and disputes on who said what and when. Jean-Jacques Rousseau seems to have attributed to a “french queen” in his work “Confessions”.