Croatians celebrate heritage

YOUNGSTOWN — The food was undeniably the biggest attraction today at the St. George Croatian Home on Vestal Road.

The place was packed. Just about every chair at every table was filled as people tasted the old recipes they likely first tasted in their mother or grandmother’s kitchen.

Chicken paprikash with dumplings. Kielbasa. Pigs in a blanket. Cevapcici, or ground-meat grilled sausage. The soups — homemade chicken noodle, or grah i zelje, which is bean, sauerkraut and ham.

Pork-schnitzel sandwiches, paired with Croatian potato salad or slaw — vinegar and oil on that, no mayonnaise.

And then there are the sweets. Palacinka, which are blintzes or crepes filled with marmalade, jellies or cheese. Kolachi. Cheese gibanica, or pan strudel. Nut kiffles, those little boomerang-shaped nutrolls. They tasted better than — well, sorry Mom.

Ron Ples rattled off the menu, even spelling “grah i zelje” off the top of his head without blinking. Renee Ples, his sister, warmed, filled and rolled Palacinka while he talked.

He was the “historian” who knew all things Croatian, she said.

She was the one who was responsible for starting Croatian Pride Day seven years ago, he said.

For the complete story, read Sunday's Vindicator and Vindy.com