re: Arky fans:. Piggly wiggly or Walmart?

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I had no idea you were of Middle Eastern descent

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My grandmother came from Lebanon so I'm only 25%. She also came to this country at a time when assimilation was practically forced on those who were white looking enough, so the only part of the culture that's made it to me really is the food.

I also know a handful of Arabic words (mostly curse words and derogatory words ) and a couple jokes in Arabic, but that's it.

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Two days before I moved away from Fayetteville a Middle Eastern grocery store opened up two blocks from where I lived and I really regret I never got to shop there.

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One great thing about Birmingham is we have a huge community of Middle Eastern Christians from Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, etc so there's a couple really good Middle Eastern grocery stores around.

There's also two area churches that both throw huge annual food festivals. One is the St. Elias Lebanese Food Festival which was actually just this weekend, the other is called a Greek Food Festival, but is essentially the same. I believe that one is in October.

If you or any other poster are ever in the area on those weekends and want to try some good food, let me know and I'd be more than happy to take y'all with me, I go every year.... For certain posters I may even be willing to do the cooking myself. I can cook a few different Lebanese dishes and I'm good at it, they're just all tons of work. I enjoy sharing Lebanese food though.

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Do the spices blend in well with the meat? I find that sometimes cinnamon with meat tends to shove everything to the side.

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Very well. You won't notice the cinnamon at all unless somebody fricked up bad. Every families recipe is different though. My own families and what you'd see at our food festivals in town look a lot more like a meatloaf for example than what you usually find in restaurants or see on Google searches. Like this but without the leafy garnishes:

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Curse you! Now I want to try Lebanese food. Granted, Memphis probably has some but I might go there and find hippies are running the place and its nothing but dates and palm leaves

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Well if you're ever around here let me know I'll do what I can to help you get some good food.

And I've found most Mediterranean restaurants are lacking anyway. Nothing like the homemade stuff. Most of them are geared more towards Greek Mediterranean than Middle Eastern Mediterranean, and while its all similar and mostly the same ingredients, the main dishes are still different.

If you do go the restaurant route I recommend grape leaves and tabbouleh to go along with your kibbeh, and if they have it get some kaik for a snack later... Just to get a proper Lebanese dining experience.

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You might laugh but anyone who has eaten in Memphis knows to be wary of the hippie restaurant owners. I'm just saying... look up butthole gate.

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Holy frick, that was a funny read

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Greek Orthodox churches? Or churches with enough Greeks they embrace that food heritage?

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The church that does the Greek Food Festival is Greek Orthodox Catholic, but I'm pretty sure most of their congregation is Middle Eastern. I guess they just call it that to be different from the Lebanese food festival, because the plates they serve are almost the same as the ones at the Lebanese festival. A lot closer to that anyway than what you would see at a Greek restaurant.

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I worked at a (now non-existent) Piggly Wiggly in high school. Should give you a good idear how old I am.
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only part of the culture that's made it to me really is the food.

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Well, at least you got there important part.

Being mostly Italian and Irish if I had not gotten the food, life would have just been more hollow. If I ever met you the Italian in me could feed you and the Irish in me could get you piss drunk.

As to middle eastern food, the Irish and Polish kids were a few blocks from the middle eastern kids so I can attest that is some yummy food. Of course I grew up eating goat and lamb so I may be a bit prejudiced.

Use to be a Piggly Wiggly in Malvern. I would go there with my Grandma as a kid.