The Saint Elias Maronite Catholic Church in Birmingham hosted the Twelfth Annual Lebanese Food & Cultural Festival on April 9th and 10th from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm. It surprised me to hear that Lebanon has a significant Christian population and that Birmingham had a significant number of people descended from Lebanese immigrants.
I went to the event on Friday, April 9th around 5:30 pm for dinner. I selected the DJAJ MISHWI (Grilled Chicken) meal for $13.00, and it consisted of one-half a lemon grilled chicken, rice, loobia (a specially prepared green beans), a Lebanese salad, and pita bread. The chicken had lemon juice soaked through it with various herbs added. The green beans had some sort of thing added to them that had a reddish color. I don't know what it was but it tasted great. The serving of Lebanese salad was drowned in vinegar and had something that may have been mint or aregano added. I don't know what it was but it tasted good too. All the food tasted excellent and it gave me a much needed break from campus food. Later that evening, I met a friend from UAB who came to the event with his girlfriend. We exchanged eager greetings and went our ways.
I thought about how the US and Lebanon take different approaches to food preparation to accomadate different tastes. I am not a culinary expert, but I appreciate the effort that went into the event and the communal and intercultural spirit of it.
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