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Community Corner

Holy Family Maronite Church in Mendota Heights Serves Up Traditional Lebanese Lenten Dinners

The church finds a great fit in the Mendota Heights community.

Holy Family Maronite Church in Mendota Heights is offering an enticing alternative to the customary Lenten fish fry by serving Lebanese dinners each Friday from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. during Lent.

In the past, the church has offered both the classic fish fry, as well as Lebanese dishes during Lent, but this is the first year they have tried an all-Lebanese menu. In previous years, dinner guests went back for seconds on the Lebanese dishes rather than the fish, which was a great encouragement to try something new.

Utilizing the vibrant flavors of Middle Eastern cooking, full of olive oil, garlic and bulgur, the church is serving traditional dishes like spinach pies, flat breads and falafel created by the all-volunteer staff. "Lubia," a customary dish made with buttered rice, sautéed onions, and green beans, has proven to be the ideal main course because it can be prepared with or without meat.

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“Everybody else around us has fish, but fish is not found in Lebanese cuisine, so it’s not something we can adapt. This year is a bit of an experiment," said church member Carolyn Marker.

 The church conducted a survey the first week of serving this new menu, and the dishes received high marks. Much of the inspiration for the menu was provided by family recipes. 

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“People are excited about this, it’s a nice change," said Marker. "We are trying to stay within our traditions and honor our past while putting our own spin on it."

“This is what we would eat when I was a kid. Last week we served vegetarian grape leaf, stuffed with lentils and cracked wheat. My mom would make a kettle of them and we would eat them like popcorn,” she said.

The chefs did run into a problem while trying to find one of the mainstay ingredients in Lebanese cooking—eggplant--due to a freeze in Texas and Mexico.

 “We contacted every distributor in town. We’ve been everywhere, but we can’t get any, so we are serving the falafel and homemade spinach pies instead,” said Marker.

This substitution did not seem to bother the guests as they filled up their plates last Friday, while volunteers kept busy in the kitchen.

New Space, New Traditions

It's clear to visitors of the Friday dinners that this is a very close church community. Since moving into the church in Mendota Heights three years ago, the congregation has embraced their new home.

Church member Vicki Whebbe enjoys creating new traditions in the Mendota Heights space. "It's just fabulous, we all volunteer for all the events. The new church is just so beautiful," she said.

Margaret Smith, who was part of the decorating committee, said she agrees. "It has been truly wonderful."

The congregation did quite a bit of renovation to the building before the move, bringing over many important pieces from their former church in West St. Paul, including stained glass windows and the alter, blending old and new.

“We just love it here in Mendota Heights. The community has been so unbelievably nice and welcoming,” said Marker, “Many of our parishioners did not want to let [the old church] go, but when they saw those stained glass windows go up, it was like, ‘OK we are bringing our church with us, it’s really all about the people.’ ”

 

IF YOU GO:

What: Lebanese Lenten Meals

When: Fridays from 5 p.m.-7 p.m. during Lent

Where: Holy Family Maronite Catholic Church's social hall, 1960 Lexington Ave. S. in Mendota Heights

 

Cost: $10 per person, all you can eat. 

Details: Call the church's office in St. Paul, 651-291-1116, with questions.  

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