Festival frenzy

Two Birmingham churches will keep tradition alive with the continuation of their annual food festivals.

Saint George Melkite Greek-Catholic Church will host its Middle Eastern Food Festival Sept. 8-10, and the following week Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral will host its Greek Food Festival Sept. 15-17. 

Both food festivals have become staples in the Birmingham food and culture scene with their homemade food, music and dance performances and craft sales. Each year, they draw attendees from across the city and the state. Both the Greek and Middle Eastern food festivals have been around for 35 years or more. 

Greek Food Festival

“It’s like if we stop doing this, we’re going to disappoint a lot of the greater Birmingham community,” said Pete Lafakis, chairman for the Greek Food Festival. “People look forward to this diversity, or what we offer in terms of a little slice of Greek life, every year.”

The Greek Food Festival started 44 years ago when Holy Trinity-Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s ladies’ society, Philoptochos, decided to make and sell Greek food as an outreach program for the community. Eventually, the demand for Greek dishes and pastries became so high that the church decided to host a festival where it would sell Greek food and expose others to Greek heritage through traditional song, dance and crafts. Additionally, as the largest of only four Greek Orthodox churches in Alabama, Holy Trinity decided to give church tours during the festival.

“A lot of people, when they take the church tours, they’re just amazed at what’s in here — the icons and all that — it’s just eye-opening,” Lafakis said. 

The festival started out in the church gymnasium, but it has since become a major event for the city of Birmingham, drawing more than 25,000 visitors each year over its three days. Just last year, the city granted the church permission to close 19th Street between Third and Fourth avenues South for the festival. 

As part of its mission to serve the community, a portion of the proceeds from the festival is donated to local charities each year. In past years, the festival has donated to Magic Moments, The Exceptional Foundation and The Bell Center. Lafakis said since its conception in 1972, the festival has donated about $1 million. 

Though the festival has grown to showcase different aspects of Greek culture, food remains front and center. Dinner options range from a Deluxe Plate (includes Greek-style chicken, pastichio, rice, spanakopita, a Greek salad and roll for $17) to souvlakia (marinated lamb skewers for $13) to gyro sandwiches for $8. Dessert options include baklava, loukoumathes (fried Greek doughnuts covered in honey), and kourambethes (Greek wedding cookies), and they range from $2 to $4. All the food is made by Holy Trinity church members and can be called in for takeout. For more information, go to birminghamgreekfestival.net.

Middle Eastern Food Festival

Though the Middle Eastern Food Festival isn’t quite as large as its counterpart, Saint George Church’s 35-year-old festival has a following in its own right — in recent years it has brought in more than 8,000 people. 

The festival operates on the same premise as the Greek Food Festival: Festivalgoers get a taste of another culture through food, live music, dance performances and vendors, only it’s not gyros and pastichio they’re serving, it’s kibbee (a Levantine dish made with ground chuck and cracked wheat) and mamoul (a shortbread filled with dates or nuts).

Jo Ann Shahid, a festival organizer, said the festival is put on through a joint effort from fellow church members. Planning for the event takes place year-round, with only a four-month lull period at the end of each year’s event. When summer begins, so does the baking. Every Saturday, church members, young and old, gather to bake spinach pies, meat pies and Middle Eastern pastries. By mid-July, the church had collectively prepared and frozen 4,000 spinach pies, 5,000 meat pies, 5,000 pastries and 16,000 stuffed grape leaves.  

“We’re just one big happy family,” Shahid said. “Everyone helps, kids from age 5 to one woman helped [and] cooked until she was 102.”

Shahid has worked on the festival for the past 20 years and said it’s been a team effort from the beginning. The festival started when initial members of the church began cooking weekly international dinners to raise money for the church. Now the church’s 300-or-so families have taken over planning and preparing the food and entertainment for the festival, including vendors selling hand-carved olive wood, religious relics, books and Middle Eastern groceries, as well as Arabic music and dance performances. 

During the festival, Shahid gives tours of the church and said her favorite part of the event is getting to see people experience Middle Eastern culture for the first time, whether that is by trying new food or learning an Arabic folk dance. 

Like Holy Trinity, Saint George Church donates a portion of the proceeds from its festival to charity. Once a month, the church cooks food for Pathways, a shelter for women and children. It donates to Three Hots and a Cot, a veterans’ charity, and it donates to Melkite Eparchy, which in turn donates to other charities, including relief in Syria. For more information, go to saintgeorgeonline.org/food-festival.