The Panegyri Greek Festival is marking its 50th year of offering Greater Cincinnatians a dazzling array of authentic Greek foods during the three-day event at Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Finneytown.
But with so many gastronomical choices, where do you start? On this week’s episode of The Enquirer’s That’s So Cincinnati podcast, Enquirer food writer Keith Pandolfi revealed what he would choose if he were limited to one entrée and one dessert.
“I will go for the Greek pizza, every time,” Pandolfi said. “Always wonderful. And then the loukoumades, which is a sweet, Greek doughnut.”
Special guests on the podcast were festival organizers Peter Rodish and Cathy Stavros. They discussed how the Panegyri grew from a modest church festival to a citywide celebration of Greek food, music, dancing and open-armed hospitality.
“One of the things about the festival, and about everything that we do, is we love to invite the city in,” Rodish said. “We love to invite the people in to see what we do, to tour our church and to taste our foods … and the culture and everything else that we do.”
Podcast listeners will learn insider tips for visiting the festival; that even people of Greek heritage have trouble pronouncing Greek words; and why you likely won’t see people lighting cheese on fire if you visit Greece and order the saganaki.
The 50th Panegyri Greek Festival runs 5 to 11 p.m. Friday, June 27; 3 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 28; and 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 29. Free parking and shuttle service is available at St. Xavier High School.
That’s So Cincinnati, The Enquirer’s weekly podcast on what’s making news in our community, features a who’s who of special guests. Listen to it at Audioboom, Apple or your favorite podcast platform.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: The secret of saganaki and more Panegyri Greek Festival revelations | That’s So Cincinnati
Reporting by Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
