‘Excellent food’ at 82nd annual Lebanese ‘big dinner party’

If there’s one thing Wichita’s Lebanese community can unite around, it’s food.

And in Wichita, one of the eat-out capitals of the Midwest, food is a pretty popular thing to rally around.

Perhaps that explains the success of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral’s Lebanese Dinner and Food Sale, now in its 82nd year.

Thousands came to the church on Saturday, both to eat inside and to get food to go curbside.

Janet Cohlmia, one of the event’s chairwomen, said the church enjoys welcoming people to the dinner every year.

“The Lebanese people of our entire parish, what we do best is host dinners,” she said. “It’s kind of like a big dinner party. We can’t have a big dinner party of 5,000 at our house, but (St. George) is our house, and we’re having a dinner party.”

People perused the “country kitchen,” replete with prepared dishes, hummus, sweet breads and cinammon rolls, organizers said.

Part of the proceeds from the event goes to local charities its organizers designate.

“The food’s excellent, and it’s a good cause,” said Bill Farha, who was volunteering at the dinner Saturday. “Everybody has the right spirit, the community’s really very receptive and very supportive, and we appreciate that.”

Linda Spines said she comes to the “country kitchen” every year as soon as it opens on Saturday. After all, that’s when you get the best selection.

“The food is delicious and the people are wonderful,” she said.

Most of the meals organizers dish out are given carside to go. Cohlmia estimated serving about 3,700 meals to go and about a thousand more in-house.

The items on the menu – kibbeh, cabbage rolls and other Lebanese traditional dishes – are about the same as they were in the 1930s, when the event first started, Cohlmia said.

“The way that things were made was passed down through generations,” she said. “We’re picky about all the ingredients that go into it: the meat, the freshness of the produce, the quality of the butter. Everything is very meticulously chosen, even down to the freshness of the spices.”

The Lebanese Dinner and Food Sale continues from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are $16 for adults and $8 for ages 10 and under. For more information, call the church at 316-636-4676 or visit www.stgeorgecathedral.net.

This story was originally published October 10, 2015 at 8:13 PM with the headline "‘Excellent food’ at 82nd annual Lebanese ‘big dinner party’."