Lebanese Festival goes for the delicious, authentic at Our Lady of Cedars in Fairlawn

Pastry maker Mary Beth Abraham uses a wooden mold that's at least 100 years old, handed down from her grandmother, to make authentic ma'mool cookies for the Lebanese Festival at Our Lady of the Cedars Maronite Catholic Church.

The 32nd annual Lebanese Festival is back in full force in Fairlawn this year, offering a full menu of Lebanese specialties from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday after a smaller, takeout-only menu in October.

The parish is happy for the return of the full festival, chaired by Violette Shamatta and co-chaired by Walid Lababidi.

"We're all excited. It's definitely fun for the church," Abraham said.

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Abraham, pastry chairwoman for the festival for 25 years, works with up to 20 volunteers, all parishioners, to make nine different Lebanese pastries for the festival. Their work began in June this year, with volunteers freezing tray upon tray of goodies for the big event.

"There's no feasible way to make all the food the week of the festival," said Abraham, who has already made 24 trays of baklawa at her home and enlisted the help of others to make eight more trays.

"We do have a huge freezer" at the church, Abraham said. "And everything is sealed and packed. It's full to the brim by the time we're ready to have the festival."

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Authentic ma'mool made for Lebanese Festival at church in Akron

The old family molds used to make the Cream of Wheat pastries ma'mool, filled with either a sweet walnut mixture or dates (ma'mool tamer), are a point of pride for Abraham.

"My original molds are from my grandma and she was born in 1904, and I'm sure they were from her mother," Abraham said of her sitto, or grandma, whose name was Victoria Moghabghab.

The beautiful round ma'mool cookies with the ornate mold details have a religious significance.

"It's basically an Easter cookie, and it's shaped like the tomb that Jesus was buried in," Abraham said.

Both varieties the church makes are round but the raised, taller ones are filled with nuts and the flatter ones are filled with dates.

Abraham, a Bath resident, prepared the ma'mool dough the night before her crew of nine made the cookies at the church banquet hall July 18. She added some water to the dough that morning to make it soft, and then volunteers weighed the dough as they formed it into balls that were all the same size.

Next, they made a hole in the center and placed the nuts or dates inside.

Then they closed it up, rounded it out, placed the dough in the mold and pressed the dough down.

It's important not to touch the dough when removing it from the mold. Instead, you hit the mold on the countertop or pan so the dough falls out onto the pan.

The nut versions are dusted with powered sugar, while the date variety is eaten plain.

Finally, Abraham's husband, Chuck, baked each batch of ma'mool, for a total of about 10 batches July 18.

Abraham is not a baker by trade.

"I don't have a baking background other than my grandma taught me how to bake and she was from Lebanon. So she taught me all the basics," she said.

What's on the menu at Lebanese Festival

The Lebanese Festival has an ample menu with most of the food inside and a grill outside. Roll-ups including falafel, beef shawarma and chicken tawook; choices cost from $8 to $10. Grilled selections, featuring shish kabob, shish tawook or shish kafta, cost $18.

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A la carte selections include tabbouleh ($6) and fattoush salads ($8), spinach or meat fatayer ($4 pies) kibbee ($8), stuffed grape leaves ($8), authentic Lebanese hummous ($5), and peas and rice ($9) or chicken and rice platters ($12). Vegetarian options include mjaddara, which is stewed lentils, onions and rice served with cabbage salad and pita bread ($9); and vegetarian green beans served with rice and pita ($9).

For sweets, folks can try booza, which is Lebanese ice cream, and nine varieties of Lebanese pastries, all $3. They range from ka'ak — Lebanese anise bread dipped in syrup — to sambousik, a walnut-filled pastry dipped in syrup.

"Lebanese hospitality, we like people to eat," Abraham said.

Guests can eat either inside or out at the festival.

They can also watch the making of flatbreads on the saj grill, an old-world dome metal griddle. The zaatar variety ($5) has wild thyme, sumac and sesame seed baked onto the bread. The cheese variety ($7) has provolone and mozzarella, while the sujuk ($7) features homemade Armenian sausage baked onto the bread. Finally, the nutella option ($7) is topped with chocolate hazelnut spread and banana.

Activities include music both days, raffles, henna art, kids' games, a bouncy house and face painting. For adults, hookah smoking includes a choice of tobacco flavor for $25 and, for $30, the addition of a pot of Lebanese coffee.

A large number of parish members volunteer each year for the highly anticipated Lebanese Festival. That includes volunteers in their 80s and 90s whose parents founded Our Lady of the Cedars.

"People in our church, they are dedicated and everybody has worked for years and years together, and we just do it as a community," Abraham said.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

Details

Event: Lebanese Festival

Where: Our Lady of the Cedars Maronite Catholic Church, 507 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road, Fairlawn

When: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Aug. 5-6

Information: See Our Lady of the Cedars Lebanese Festival on Facebook or call 330-666-3598

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Lebanese Festival in Fairlawn carries on parish, family traditions