CELEBRATING 65 YEARS IN 2021, SHREVEPORT’S GREEK PASTRY SALE MAY BE ONE OF THE LONGEST-RUNNING FOOD EVENTS IN LOUISIANA
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mong the many food events that were sidelined, postponed, or canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I missed one event more than any other: the annual Greek Pastry Sale at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Highland. Since 1956, this fundraiser has been organized by the local chapter of the Philoptochos Society, a Greek women’s philanthropic organization. The Greek Pastry Sale may very well be one of Louisiana’s longest-running annual food events, yet it comes and goes each holiday season with relatively little fanfare, lost amid the hustle and bustle of larger, flashier events.
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NOVEMBER 2021
| SBMAG.NET
BY CHRIS JAY
a Sweet TASTE OF HISTORY
Photos: St. George Greek Orthodox Church
Perhaps the sale wouldn’t meet most people’s definition of a “food event.” There’s no live music, no VIP tent, no sponsor-branded selfie stations. What it lacks in festive atmosphere, the sale makes up for in the quality of foods available for purchase. Each year there’s a slightly different assortment of Greek sweets, breads, appetizers, and entrees available for pre-order, including favorites like baklava and spanakopita as well as harder-to-find Greek goodies like tsourekia, a sweet bread made with lots of eggs and butter, and tiropites, a cheese-filled appetizer consisting of countless layers of phyllo so thin that they melt on the tongue. The sale is timed each year to coincide with the advent of holiday entertaining. In a shrewd business move, the women who originally organized the sale recognized that mid-November is an ideal time to go to market with dozens of delicious, handmade party snacks. Proceeds from the event benefit a long list of Shreveport-area organizations including the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana, Caddo Council on Aging, Community Renewal of Shreveport, the Deaf Action Center, and the Gingerbread House.
