MONTICELLO — It was cold outside, but the exotic spices and lively beat indoors at St. Mark Church in Monticello were warm and inviting.
Parishioners showed off their ethnic culinary skills Jan. 20 as a large crowd gathered to dine by candlelight in the parish hall at the annual International Dinner.
“Every year we add more decorations and more food,” laughed Hillevi Labro. “When we go home to the Philippines, we are always looking for something different to bring back for the dinner.”
The Filipino Room was by far the liveliest as guests arrived for pre-dinner wine and a whirlwind four continent tour up and down the education wing of the church. Two long tables covered with hot dishes sat perpendicular to a display of art and clothing depicting the variety of cultures among the many islands in the Malaysian Archipelago. Dancers in national costume glided across a television screen set up in a corner, and the walls were covered with maps and pictures and exquisite clothing.
“This shirt is made of pineapple fiber,” said Robert Guanzon, running his hand up the inside of an off-white barong, a traditional dress shirt embroidered and hemmed to be worn untucked. “It’s very light and it ’breathes’ in the heat.”
The pineapple fiber looks like silk and is nearly transparent. Both pineapple and banana fiber are used traditionally for making the barong Tagalog which explains the near-white hue. The women’s blouses, both white and beige, are heavily embroidered and ornate.
One of the more popular dishes, covered in foil and steaming on the serving table, is pancit. It’s colorful and has lots of texture, probably the result of the long list of ingredients.
“Pancit has vermicelli, chicken, cabbage, carrots, fungus, fish balls and Chinese sausage,” explained Hillevi Labro.
The Labros, Hillevi, her husband Dante, and their son Daniel, shop at the Asian markets in Little Rock and Monroe, La., regularly for the exotic ingredients that are difficult to find in Monticello.
Just up the hallway in the fourth grade classroom, Gabriela Atan from Argentina and Victoria Angulo from Peru were setting up a casserole-and-dessert table flanked by their national flags. Atan is in Monticello on a one-year Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Arkansas at Monticello and Angulo is teaching Spanish at Dermott High School.
Other classrooms had been reserved for Cajun cooking, Indian cuisine and North American specialties. Crockpots bubbled, steamers hissed and wonderful smells wafted into the church hall as the guests and the cooks mingled in anticipation.
The International Dinner has been an annual feature of the Family Life Committee at St. Mark for more than 10 years. The dinners inspired a cookbook, “International Flavor,” with 198 recipes that was published by the parish in 2005 as a fundraiser for the new sanctuary. All 500 copies sold out immediately, and the committee is considering a second printing.
In addition, a second cookbook titled “Home-Style Cooking” is in the works as a 2007 fundraiser.
The International Dinner attracts guests from the community who have come to anticipate the annual gathering. By the time pastor Father Phillip Reaves said the blessing, nearly 70 diners were ready to sample the food. There is no charge for the meal and families are encouraged to make this an adults-only evening. Real china, white tablecloths and dim lighting in the church hall added to the bistro ambiance as guests brought plates heaped with exotic foods from the various ethnic rooms.
And the talk turned to next year’s dinner.
