Food has long been heavily subsidized in Egypt. Recently the government has allowed the real cost to peek through. This may have been poorly timed because there are presently a lot of factors driving up these prices.

Canada had a poor wheat crop. Russia had a poor year, so much so that they have restricted export. The US ethanol program has a lot of farmers putting effort into producing fuel instead of food. And a similar program, the European bio-diesel programs, are having a similar effect.

Generally the rest of the world spends close to a third of their household budgets on food. US consumers enjoy low prices because our food is heavily subsidized. Mainly this is through various farm programs, tax breaks, and incentive programs for processors. The US effort keeps wheat, corn, soybeans, sugar, meat and milk products artificially low. Which, paradoxically, keeps fruits, vegetables and non-subsidized food, the stuff you ought to be eating if you want to stay healthy, artificially high.