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Cuisine Crosses Cultures
A Carpatho-Rusyn church on Youngstown’s West Side raises funds by selling Chinese meals
By LINDA M. LINONIS
Video
Chinese dinners at St. Michael
The Vindicator publishes listings of food sales on Wednesday. Here are details of the sale at St. Michael Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church.
What: Homemade Chinese dinners including Shanghai pork, five-spice beef, sour cabbage, and white or brown rice. Cost is $5.
When: 11 to 4 p.m. Thursdays. Lunch or supper meals are eat-in or take-out.
Where: St. Michael Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church social hall, 125 Steel St., Youngstown.
To order: Call 330-799-8133.
On the side: Rev. Andrew Gromm, pastor, presents a lecture on religious topics, Bible study or book discussion at 6 p.m. Thursdays. “It’s food for thought,” he said. “The whole idea is about spiritual food and material food.”
Photo
Yoanna Gromm, foreground, is ready to serve a homemade Chinese meal at St. Michael Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church in Youngstown, where her husband, the Rev. Andrew Gromm, background, is pastor.
YOUNGSTOWN
An unorthodox culinary experiment at a West Side church has turned out to be a recipe for success.
It’s a homemade Chinese meal offered Thursdays at St. Michael Carpatho-Rusyn Orthodox Church.
Think pirogis or haluski seem more in tune with the ethnic heritage of the church? Think again.
The idea was the brainchild of the Rev. Andrew Gromm, who was assigned as pastor this January.
Father Andrew marshaled the resources at the church — dedicated members willing to help on the fund-raiser — and his wife, Yoanna, who is from Shanghai, China. She’s using recipes from her family collection and her cooking skills to benefit the church coffers.
At first, some wondered how such a project would work. John Kramer, a member since 1972, admitted he questioned what Father Andrew was thinking. He said at different times the church has had food fundraisers with ethnic specialties. “But that died out,” he said.
“She’s very industrious, and she’s introduced us to different foods,” Kramer said of Pani, a term in the Orthodox tradition used to describe the priest’s wife. “We did a lot better than anticipated.”
Kramer said he enjoys helping out and learning something new.
The church has been selling an average of 75 Chinese meals every Thursday, Father Gromm said. It offers such dishes as five-spice beef and Shanghai pork chop with onions. “I thought it would be a good idea because no one else was doing it, said Father Gromm, who said he is astounded at the number of ethnic food specialties in the Valley. “If you like Chinese food, you’ll love this food," he said.
Yoanna Gromm oversees the volunteer kitchen crew, which fluctuates in number and personnel weekly. Wednesday is the preparation day for the food sale Thursday. Meat is cut, then tenderized by pounding. Then there’s chopping as vegetables are prepared. The kitchen crew spends a few hours at these tasks. Other volunteers show up Thursday to help with cooking, serving and packaging take-out orders. “I try to keep it healthy,” Yoanna Gromm said, noting that it’s not deep fried.
Last week, Ann Datko, a lifelong member, and Anna Kiddon, a member for 63 years, were helping out.
“It’s a good way to help the church,” Datko said of the cooking project.
“I loved Chinese food before this started and now I’m cooking it,” said Kiddon.
Both women credited Yoanna Gromm with being a “good teacher.”
Also lending a hand were sisters Sandy O’Neill and Chris Bundy, whose parents, Andrew and Mary Kurty, were charter members of the church. “I never cooked Chinese food before but I love eating it,” O’Neill said. “This was an excellent idea ... It’s a good way to make money for the church.”
Bundy agreed. “I like being involved,” she said. “We didn’t know how it would turn out, but it’s going good."
Kramer added that volunteering on the project has a side benefit. “I saw these ladies in church but now I’m getting to know them,” he said. “We have camaraderie.”
For the priest and his wife, who are new to the church and the state, the project “is a good way to meet people,” Yoanna Gromm said. “Working with one another is a good thing.
“The church [members] are so supportive,” she said.
Father Andrew, who was a lay teacher in Nashville until his position was cut back, said he interpreted that as a sign from God to listen to his vocational calling. While a teacher, he met his future wife, who had come to the United States to work. They were married in June 2003; he was ordained in October 2009.
Father Andrew said the church “is blessed with good volunteers.”