Church Dinners

I love church dinners.  I have been a Baptist church girl my whole life long. That’s not lying – my parents took me to a Baptist Church almost as soon as I was born and until I was sick in the summer of 7th grade, I could count on my fingers the number of Sunday morning church services I'd missed.  So, when I tell you that I’ve eaten a lot of church food, that’s the absolute truth. . .

 “Dinner on the grounds” – that’s what we used to call it,  I think it’s called that because you eat on the church grounds. I’ve eaten in fellowship halls, in Sunday School rooms, on a blanket outside, standing, holding my plate in my hands.   When my daddy pastored at Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, which is in-between Davenport and Loughman, they had and still have the best outdoor pavilion for dinner on the grounds I’ve ever seen. Do you know how much food can fit down that table in the center?

 There’s a unique set of smells that comes with dinner on the grounds. Of course, for most church dinners, you simply must have fried chicken.  Add in ham,  macaroni and cheese,  and casseroles – oh the casseroles.  Potato salad,  pasta salad, cole slaw, potatoes – scalloped, au gratin, it’s all good.  Butter beans, lima beans, green beans, it just goes on and on and on.

And then, there’s the dessert table.  There’s always banana pudding and chocolate cake. – it’s obligatory for Baptists.  Personally, I think it’s the 11th Commandment  -“Thou shalt have chocolate cake and banana pudding.”  One time at one of our churches, a lady made banana pudding specially for my daddy – and left out the bananas.  It might be better that way!  Mrs. Viola Wooten used to make a cake that looked like this:



It was fabulous!!! Those little tiny skinny layers and the  homemade chocolate frosting - I can still taste it.  My mama always made 7 Minute Frosting for her cakes  – it’s made with white Karo syrup and it gets crystal-ly after a while. Most ladies have their thing - certain recipes that they are known for. It's a slippery slope to make something someone else is known for. It can be a scary thing.  Personally, I only bring things Publix makes. Today I had some grape salad that I was sure Debbie C made, but she didn't.  I'll always eat Gail Thompson's potato salad - it tastes like my mama's. 

Of course, now, we call them “Fellowship Dinners." We eat at nice tables, with flower arrangements and cushy chairs. It's a lot different than eating outside in a metal chair that is sinking into the ground. Some things are still the same - you can still smell chicken when it’s over.  There really doesn’t have to be a reason.  Sometimes it’s as simple as the 5th Sunday of the month.  My church fed my family after my mother’s funeral and my dad’s funeral.   Today, my church celebrated our Music Minister’s retirement.  He’s been serving God and churches for 45 years. It was bittersweet - we are happy for him, but sad for us.  Sometimes it’s a happy reason, sometimes it’s sad but the food is always good.   
If you’ve never had dinner on the ground, you just don’t know what you’re missing. I love church dinners - there's nothing like them in the whole world.