Ethnic food attracts visitors to A Taste of Serbia festival

Today’s schedule will include a performance by Orkestar Pobeda.

People flocked early to St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church of McKeesport and Duquesne Friday evening for the first night of its sixth annual A Taste of Serbia festival.

Decorated in the red, blue and white Serbian flag, the festival served hundreds of patrons sampling different types of Serbian foods.

The festival will continue from noon to 7 p.m. today at the church, which is located at 901 Hartman St. Everyone is invited to try the lineup of Serbian foods and enjoy the entertainment.

Publicity coordinator Dorothy Ikach said the hand-breaded haddock fillet sandwich was only available on Friday, but many other favorites are on today’s menu.

The boneless, slow-roasted sliced lamb sandwich, another popular item, is being served both days, and they also offer apple strudel, cheese-filled crepes, palacinke, sweet cheese strudel gibanica, nut rolls, apricot rolls and a lot more.

“During Lent we do Friday fish fries, and that is a big event, but a lot of the baked goods the women have been making since after Memorial Day,” Ikach said. “They come in once a week, they make maybe 150 nut rolls. It’s kinda fine tuned now.”

Other popular food include cevaps, classic hand-rolled skinless meat sausages; burek, savory meat and cheese pie in phyllo dough; sarma, Serbian-style stuffed cabbage; grah i kupas, sauerkraut and red kidney bean soup; halushki, sauteed cabbage and onions with egg noodles; and hot sausage sandwiches.

A full menu is available at www.stsavapa.org with items ranging from $3 to $18. There’s no admission fee, and free parking can be found at the church and behind Auberle Family Center.

Those who come to the festival can eat inside the church hall or outside under a courtyard tent. Takeout orders are also available.

Father Stevan G. Rocknage, the priest at St. Sava for the past 38 years, recommends that people try everything at their festival.

“We have great cooks and bakers,” Rocknage said. “Just the dessert trays blow my mind. We’ve got reinforcements for two more days. It’s awesome.”

Staffing the dessert table, Tracy Vidnovic recommended all the desserts for people to try.

Rocknage’s wife and head of the kitchen, Joanne Rocknage, said they get to their kitchen early to prepare the food, and they have been cooking for the past few days.

“We start in June because we have to make a lot of this stuff ahead of time so that we don’t have to later,” Joanne said. “We get the cabbage rolls in the freezer and ready to go.”

Orkestar Pobeda will provide traditional Serbian music from 3 to 7 p.m. today. Representatives from a monastery were there Friday to sell homemade honey, Orthodox crosses and more.

Sponsors for the event included Lampert’s Market, Twin Oaks Restaurant and Catering Service, Firewhistle Brewing, the Serb National Federation and more.

According to Ikach, the area is filled with Serbian people along with those who are looking to try new foods from all different cultures. Next year they will be celebrating 125 years in the McKeesport area.

Preparation for A Taste of Serbia takes several months, with work beginning in the summer. Ikach said it requires a lot of people to put together, and there are 20 or more people working at the festival with everyone pitching in.

A Taste of Serbia originated from McKeesport’s International Village, but they decided to host their own event at their church location for efficiency. According to Ikach, St. Sava had been one of the original churches to participate in International Village since the 1950s.

“We were one of the pioneers of International Village here in McKeesport for over 60 years,” Jim Brady, who started the event six years ago, said. “So when we transitioned because of our age of our help and our facilities, it’s easier to do this here. Some of the menu carried over, but we have a well established relationship with the community that we have good food.”

Despite some difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ikach said the festival has been a success for them.

While the food is a major element of why people come out for the event, many in the congregation enjoy the church’s history and its camaraderie during this annual weekend celebration.

“It’s an outreach in the community and also being a good neighbor in the community,” Ikach said. “People come to know the quality of our food. It’s fun and we enjoy doing it. It’s the fellowship that we enjoy.”

The first location of the church was in 1901 on Hazel Street in McKeesport, celebrating its 100 year anniversary in 2001, and ever since then, they have been sharing its church’s history.

The church is named after Saint Sava, who is celebrated as a founder of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church. Those visiting the church took tours and learned about the blessed items for prayer and the sacred vessels.

Brady said the church is the oldest Serbian Orthodox Church east of the Mississippi River and the third oldest in the United States. He said visitors should try every food item.

“I enjoy every minute of (the festival), truthfully,” Brady said. “There is excitement that builds through yesterday and today, and you are just waiting for the doors to open. People always come early because they like being with us, and the excitement builds. By the end of Saturday, you find yourself very tired, but in the best possible way.”