Food and festivities
The 2018 Food Festival at St. Elijah Orthodox Christian Church will feature lots of food and festivities like live music.
A smorgasbord of Mediterranean cuisine annually draws large crowds to a northwest Oklahoma City church.
The cabbage rolls, meat pies, Baklawa and other crowd favorites will be available again at the annual St. Elijah’s Food Festival set for Nov. 2 and Nov. 3 at St. Elijah Orthodox Christian Church, 15000 N May Ave.
Malek Massad, one of the festival’s co-chairmen, said more than 250 people have been working for roughly two months to put on the annual food extravaganza.
Massad said the volunteers’ cooking skills are appreciated by the community-at-large judging by the amount of people who make their way to the church each year for the annual event. He said the festival has played host to between 7,000 and 8,000 people each year over a two-day period.
“It’s like Black Friday,” he said, referring to the Friday after Thanksgiving and the crowds that descend on retail stores for what is known as the biggest shopping day of the year.
Massad said St. Elijah church members enjoy the opportunity to open their church each year to share their diverse culture, history and cuisine.
He said festival admission is free. Guests will be able to purchase a la carte menu items to dine in or carry out.
Selections will include Middle Eastern foods such as Ruz and Yahknee, Lebanese rice pilaf with green bean and sirloin topping; cabbage rolls; Salata or Lebanese salad; hummus; Kafta sandwiches; chicken sandwiches; talami or homemade Lebanese Bread; tabouli; Sfeeha or meat pies; and Baklawa.
The festival’s Culinary Cupboard will offer pastries, breads, cookies, cakes, pies and ethnic foods from around the world. Guests also may choose to purchase refrigerated and frozen items to take home.
Festival visitors will be invited to the Cultural Committee’s Hospitality Room to learn about the diverse cultural history of St. Elijah and its parishioners who represent such countries as Lebanon, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Ethiopia, Greece and Russia.
Guests also will have an opportunity to take guided tours of the church to learn about the Orthodox Christian faith, along with the architecture and icons featured at St. Elijah.