Egyptian Food Festival in Nashua
For the past nine years the St. Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church in Nashua has opened its doors to welcome the community to an Egyptian Food Festival.
“[The Festival] has been growing steadily since we started,” said Kyrillos Gobran, the church’s priest. “It started very small and it started to grow year after year. People would come to try a taste of Egypt. It’s a good family-oriented atmosphere, very safe. People come and enjoy it and look forward to this event year over year.”
Because many cultures around the Mediterranean Sea have similar food traditions, people familiar with Greek cooking will recognize many of the dishes at this Egyptian Festival, Gobran said.
“We usually have like traditional types of food,” he said, “like beef kebab, lamb kebab, chicken kebab [and] kofta. We have shawarma, of course — beef and chicken. We have vegetarian food as well — falafel, and there is an Egyptian famous vegetarian food called kosheri, which has lentils, rice and pasta. And there is fried onion on top, with chickpeas, and a marinated red sauce on top. We have desserts, music, a bazaar as well. We have a church tour where we tell people who we are. Of course, we have a kids’ corner, ice cream, cotton candy, popcorn and different types of things. It will make it very friendly and family-friendly to everyone.”
Gobran said a major difference between Egyptian dishes and similar ones from other countries comes from the way the ingredients are used and the spices they are cooked with.
“Our marination is a little bit different,” he said, “especially for the meat. The falafel itself, whether the base is beans or chickpeas, or peas by itself — it all depends on where was the origin of it and … what’s added to the taste of it plus the marination.”
Egyptian cooking makes use of “warm” spices in savory foods that many Europeans and Americans associate with sweets, Gobran said. “Usually the norm is salt and pepper, but we have a [mixture] with something like seven types of spices, like nutmeg and cinnamon. There’s so many different types of things that we use in there to give it that flavor.”
While one goal of the Food Festival is to introduce Egyptian food and culture to the larger community, Gobran said, for Egyptians like him the sounds and smells are a reminder of home. “One of the things I personally love,” he said, “is the grill. That’s one of my favorites, even in my own home. I usually do a lot of [grilling] just because it brings that memory back of a little taste of Egypt.” He said that in Egyptian culture, both men and women are encouraged to cook. “If [men] like it, if they enjoy it, absolutely, you will find both genders most of the time.” He said that at his church’s festival men tend to be around the flames and smoke of the grill. “For us, the women serve most of the food.” The men, he said, take the flame grilling very seriously.
The Festival will take place at the church, Gobran said. “There are no admission fees. Everybody is welcomed and we are going to be there rain or shine. There is a huge tent that nobody can miss. And if they miss the tent, they won’t miss the smell.”
The 9th Annual Egyptian Food Festival
Where: St. Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, 39 Chandler St., Nashua, stmarycoptsnh.org
When: Friday, Sept. 11, from 4 to 9 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 12, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 13, from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free.
Featured photo: Egyptian Food Festival. Courtesy photo.
