A liver sandwich for 3 EGP? There Must Be a Catch!

A question that’s usually on our minds when we eat liver from a cart in a “sha3by” area…is the 3 EGP liver sandwich real liver or are there other things mixed in?! for sure it is not balady beef liver so what are these sandwiches made of? Let’s find out together.

The idea behind this article came from a video by well-known Egyptian vlogger Karim Al-Sayed, and you can check his Facebook page for more content.

Prices of liver and minced meat by kilo

• One kilogram of Brazilian liver: 56 EGP.
• One kilogram of Brazilian minced meat: 80 EGP.
• One kilogram of pure balady liver: 180 EGP.
• One kilogram of kunduz liver "with a heart and kidneys": 160 EGP.
• One kilogram of balady minced meat: 120 EGP.

“We can say for certain that these liver carts don’t use balady beef and liver, but that they most probably use mostly Brazilian beef, and they probably buy the meat at much lower prices because they buy it in bulk.

Time for some math!

• The price of one liver sandwich is 3 EGP so if we buy 19 sandwiches they will cost 57 EGP, which is the price of one kilogram of Brazilian liver.
• A plain hawawshi sandwich sells for 10 EGP. If we buy 8 sandwiches, they will cost 80 pounds, which is the price of one kilogram of Brazilian minced meat.

Let’s weigh the sandwiches (yes more math)

·       If we empty the liver in the 19 sandwiches on a scale they will weight approximately 433 grams, which is less than half a kilo.

·       If we empty the minced meat in the hawawshi sandwiches on a scale the meat will weigh around 650 grams.

"Taking into account the presence of various tahabish or vegetables such as chopped peppers and spices in liver sandwiches, and onions in hawawshi - meaning that the weights that come out of the liver and minced meat are not pure"

This is a good thing because if the weight came out more than a kilo, it would be really scary as we would definitely be eating meat of unknown origin!

So far OK but do liver carts make a profit?

In the language of numbers when these carts use Brazilian beef and liver yes, they do make a profit. It may not be a huge profit per sandwich but when you multiply by the impressive number of sandwiches they sell every day they make good profit.

·       433 grams of liver costs 24 EGP, meaning they stand to make a profit of around 33 EGP per kilo of liver.

·       650 grams of Brazilian minced meat costs about 52 EGP, which means a profit of around 28 EGP per kilogram.

So now we know how a 3 EGP can be sold at that price and still make a profit but what if the price of a sandwich is 2 EGP??

The butchers’ “meat” division in the Cairo Chamber of Commerce warned of the spread of 2 EGP liver sandwiches, and they emphasized that these sandwiches contain large percentage of fats, water and inedible trimmings to which they add seasonings and cut up vegetables to give it a nice smell and taste.

Be careful!

In conclusion if the liver sandwich costs less than 3 EGP then you should be worried and know that the meat is most certainly not pure beef but a mixture of fats, bits of the animal carcass that are inedible and spices.

The same applies for a hawawshi sandwich that is sold for less than 10 EGP- in many places for 5 EGP- which will definitely not have either balady or Brazilian beef as one of its components.

Our advice to you is to try and reduce your consumption of this type of popular sha3by food to prevent possible food poisoning and various health problems.

Liver sandwiches are one of the cheapest dishes in Cairo, but do you know there are other cheap but delicious dishes out there? Check out our article, the cheapest types of food in Cairo