Pennsylvania’s Gourmet Get-Together


At McKeesport's August food festival, ethnic groups try to outdo each other in the culinary art

By Nancy Kennedy
Reprinted from Ford Times, August 1972
© 1972 Ford Motor Company
Photos by Ralph G. Pittner and Irvin P. Saylor

For a McKeesport resident on a strict diet, the most humane prescription would be to leave town August 15, 16 and 17 when the 13th annual International Village opens. Although this joyful community festival features dancing, singing and parades, it primarily concentrates on eating --- and it is an event to tax the talents of noted trenchermen.

At the turn of the century the steel mills of Pittsburgh, 12 miles away, attracted workers to this area from all over the world --- and they brought their favorite recipes with them. Today, however, the younger generation of Poles, Serbians, Hungarians and others are gradually giving up preparing pierogi (stuffed dumplings), roasting lambs and making strudels and noodles from scratch.

The idea of International Village was not to resurrect crumbling national barriers, but to try to preserve --- and share --- some of the Old World tradition, such as authentic folk costumes, songs, dances and foods.

Today 17 nationalities are represented and preparations begin weeks, often months, in advance, when groups of women put on their aprons and start to bake in church kitchens.

Kolache and tortas, baked by age-old recipes handed down for generations in families, are stored away in home freezers. Mrs. Milan Popovich even has noodles in her linen closet, her bureau drawers and her pantry. Mrs. Popovich, the wife of a retired priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and mother of the International Village chairman, cuts the golden strands of her unbelievably delicate noodles by hand. Gourmets buy up as many pounds of these delicacies as they can find at the Serbian stand to grace extra-special soups for the coming year.

Heavenly aromas

By mid-August, the heavenly aromas of baking breads, blended with the fragrances of kielbasa and sauerkraut, stuffed cabbage in seven different varieties and Swedish ginger cookies are seeping from every church and parish hall in the city. "Everything must be handmade and homemade. Everything must be authentic. That's the charm of the International Village," says Chairman Zoran Popovich.

And what Mr. Popovich might have added is that somehow this festival has managed to keep the bad cooks out of the kitchen. For in all the years of attending such events, I've never eaten such superb food.

Most of the dishes are of humble peasant origin from dozens of lands but prepared with such consummate skill they are a treat for the most discriminating gourmet. Also many of these nationality foods may go the way of the dodo. Everyone loves to eat them, but few want to spend the hours in the kitchen most of them require.

As a warmup for the main eating event, a different nationality hosts a decorated food book on McKeesport's main street --- Fifth Avenue --- on each of the six Saturdays before International Village.

On August 15, 16 and 17 the serious eating begins promptly at 4:30 p.m. in McKeesport's Renziehausen Park. Last year over 80,000 people crowded around the booths to eat their way through Europe, the British Isles, India and Africa. The experienced visitor has learned to restrain his enthusiasm and appetite so that he can enjoy and eight, even 10 course dinner, with each delightful dish served in a different language.

The first-time guest can be identified by his gusto eating his way through the half-dozen specialties of the first couple of booths before he realizes to his horror that he can eat no more for hours --- with half a world to devour! He sinks slowly to one of the hundreds of chairs arranged in the center of the field around the stage and torpidly watches the wildly enthusiastic dancing and singing from gaily costumed residents, aged from three to 93, that follow. Next evening he will plot his course more wisely and will sample the "lost art" cooking of at least five more nations before he again must take a diet break with hopes of reviving his jaded appetite for that one last thousand calorie dessert.

Below are a few pastry favorites served at the International Village.

Swedish Apricot Squares

Cream:
3/4 cup margarine or butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

Add and beat well:
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together:
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda

Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, mix well and chill for 3 or 4 hours. Divide dough in half and roll each half very thin between waxed paper to about 10 by 15 inches. Put one layer of rolled dough in greased and floured pan, then a layer of apricot filling, and another layer of dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Apricot Filling --- Mix one 11-ounce box of dried apricots, 1 cup sugar, and water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook until thick.

Romanian Flaky Nut Horns

1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream (no substitute!)
2 cups flour
1 pound ground walnuts
1 cup brown sugar
2 unbeaten egg whites

Cream butter, shortening and salt. Mix egg yolks and sour cream together, combine and creamed ingredients, and add flour. Work into a ball, and refrigerate 8 hours. Divide into 5 balls. Roll each one out round on a floured board, and cut into 6 or 7 wedges, 2 or 3 inches wide. Mix ground nuts, brown sugar, and egg whites. Put a teaspoon of nut mixture on the wide end of each wedge, and roll into horn shape. Bake on greased, floured cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. Don't let them get too brown. After baking, dust with powdered sugar. May be frozen.

Greek Diples

6 eggs
3 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon soda
juice of 1/2 orange

Syrup:
6 cups sugar
3 cups water
small piece lemon
ground walnuts
cinnamon

Beat eggs with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix soda with orange juice and add. Slowly add flour, kneading sections, cover with damp cloth. Roll each part on floured board until paper thin. Cut into strips 2 inches by 6 inches. Drop into hot oil, turn over at once and with two forks, form into roll. Start rolling as soon as the dough hits the oil. Drain on absorbent paper. Make syrup by boiling sugar, water and lemon to medium consistency. Let sit until just warm, dip each diple into syrup, and sprinkle with walnuts and cinnamon.

English Chess Tarts

2 cups butter
4 cups sugar
6 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups walnuts
2 cups raisins

Soften butter, add sugar and eggs with vanilla and beat well. Add nuts and raisins. Put in pastry shells and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.