ORONO, Maine — Savory aromas of tomato, cinnamon, garlic and exotic spices wafted up from the basement of the Church of Universal Fellowship in Orono at noon on a recent Monday.
The excited chatter of a roomful of women — some of whom spoke English with enthusiasm and an accent — provides a soundtrack for the regular monthly lunch meeting of Women of the World, a group that was first formed in Orono nearly 40 years ago. Members today said the group’s longevity shows the power of food and fellowship to forge bonds despite cultural, religious, language and other differences.
And in a moment when national political rhetoric about hot-button issues such as immigration and the global economy can become tense, the group in the church basement provides an inviting, homey and tasty idea of America.
“I’m a woman of the world,” member Shellie Batuski of Orono said. “I come here because I meet people from all over, and I eat delicious food. That’s a big draw. I believe in building bridges. This kind of place is a reminder that we are all one. We are all the same. We are all immigrants in this country, even the Native Americans. We are all from somewhere.”
Lots of university towns across the country have groups similar to Women of the World, according to Mireille LeGal, an international student adviser at the University of Maine and the overseer of the program.
“It’s great to learn about different cultures and different traditions,” she said. “It’s also a great way to try different food that you wouldn’t eat otherwise.”
Every month during the academic year, about 40 women and children come to the meeting, which always features a presentation and discussion after enjoying a meal built around a particular theme. This year’s schedule features the cuisines of Cuba, France, Italy and China, among other food traditions. Many of the attendees have close ties to other countries and cultures, but it’s not mandatory. A lot of the women who come are Americans who are simply interested in meeting people and learning more about the world.
On Monday, the women learned about something a little different: Cafe Sirocco, a restaurant on the Greek island of Andros that was run by Balenda Ganem of Bangor between 1984 and 1994. Ganem, now 65, said she first traveled to Andros by mistake but fell in love with the island and the community she discovered there. At the time, she was a 34-year-old theater major at the University of Maine and went to Greece one winter to study classical theater. When she arrived in Greece, she found that classical theater was only performed in the summertime, so she decided to visit a Maine woman who lived on a different island. But high winds on the Aegean Sea forced her ferry to stop for several days on the island of Andros.
Ganem, who has Lebanese roots, wound up quickly making friends there. She also met a Greek man named Leonidas who became her romantic and business partner.
“It was love at first sight,” she said.
Their eclectic restaurant Cafe Sirocco featured food from Lebanon, India and Italy and was a hit among the locals and tourists alike. Ganem became known on Andros for her rich, meaty-tasting (but vegetarian) eggplant and tomato sauce, her hummus and her championship of the island’s stray cats. She’d head down to the town’s beach every day to go swimming, followed by a parade of cats who would wait for her to finish and then follow her back home.
“The islanders thought I was a witch,” she said, jokingly.
After 10 years, though, things changed on Andros. Ganem had developed arthritis after years of cooking on concrete floors, and her relationship with Leonidas ended. So she came home to Maine to help care for her aging mother, and Cafe Sirocco became just a collection of recipes and happy memories — until Monday, that is.
“It’s the first time in 22 years I’ve reproduced Cafe Sirocco,” she said. “I could just cry.”
Ganem made many of her specialty dishes, such as the eggplant-based sauce and loobi, a Lebanese green bean dish made with garlic, tomato, onion and cinnamon. Other local women stepped up to provide dishes such as curried lentils with vegetables and yogurt sauce and lemon bars with an almond crust.
“Look, it’s a banquet,” Ganem said, gesturing at the laden table.
She said that when she came home and found Women of the World, it was a good fit for her.
“It’s been great to meet women who have traveled, who have lived in other countries and who love to cook,” Ganem said.
One Orono woman, Stefanie Egenhofer, 54, used stronger language to describe what the group meant to her when she first moved to Orono from southern Germany about 30 years ago.
“It was a weird time for me. I could speak English but not enough to do anything with it,” she said.
A woman in Orono told her about the group, and she found it to be an oasis of other international women and Americans who wanted to learn more about the world.
“All I can say is they were a lifesaver,” Egenhofer said of joining the group.
Another member, Christine Chou of Hampden, is originally from Taipei, Taiwan, and has lived in Maine for 30 years. She owns the China Garden restaurant in Orono and is a part of the Maine-China Network, which aims to increase educational, cultural and business ties with China. Two years ago, she began coming to Women of the World and has found that the group helps fills a need for her.
“This organization, they have what I need to absorb,” Chou, 63, said. “I needed to learn more, and it’s interesting to learn here.”
Nancy Cousins Stine, 83, who lives in Orono for eight months of the year, was decked out in a hat covered in pins from her travels around the country and the world. She and her husband have made many of their trips with Servas, an international network of hosts and travelers. With Servas, they can stay with locals instead of at hotels.
“When you stay with people who actually live there, you get to learn about them,” she said. “The more you know about them, the less you get aggravated.”
She has found Women of the World has some of the same spirit.
“I think it’s wonderful. It’s so welcoming and sharing.”