The bread bakery of Fathy, Cairo. Photo by Alexander Schippers
Hamza Al-Aqqad - 22/10/2026 - LondonHow consistent should I prefer my life to be?
Should I be having a tuna sandwich every day for lunch?
No, because the mercury in tuna would kill me.
Tuna has mercury because it eats other fish, that also have mercury.
Fish have mercury because of us.
David Lynch had tuna every day, to avoid decision fatigue.
He died, because of cigarettes not tuna.
How can tuna be a cheap food in a can and a luxurious one as sashimi?
Even Tuna cannot escape the perception trap.
A blue marlin can swallow a whole tuna in one go.
It must have even more mercury
As a child I feared thermometers
I look at that menacing silver stream rise closer into my mouth
It reminds me of the school clinic
The place I dreaded
The taste of the wooden tongue depressor and the gagging that followed
What if they used a stick that had already been in someone’s mouth?
Is what I would think.
Bread has no mercury and so bread was safe
Arabic bread brought down from conveyer belts
To be bought by weight
Condensation forms in the plastic bag, and it was best enjoyed warm in the car
With the comforting heat and heft of 2 kgs of bread on top of your lap
Plastic is the mercury of today
Rashid Hussein fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand,
And died alone.
My cigarettes come wrapped in plastic.
So does my bread
But at least I don’t have tuna every day.
Click the picture to return home.