Pull up to the Samoan Christian Fellowship in Des Moines on certain Saturdays and you’ll smell the aroma of grilled chicken and pork ribs rubbed with a “super secret” sauce and spun over an open flame, “huli huli” style.
“We have Samoan friends, and any food they touch is delicious, so I stopped when I saw the sign,” said Linda McGowan of Des Moines, who was there for the first time last week.
The church’s congregation has been holding the fundraising cookouts, which usually sell out by midafternoon, for the past three years or so, according to Tautualelei Tauaifaiga, the fellowship’s capital campaign director.
He’s the one who prepares the secret blend of spices used to rub the meats before they are grilled on a massive rotisserie.
Besides feeding the community, selling the meat allows the congregation to pay its mortgage without undue strain on individual members, who generally work hourly wage jobs, said lead Pastor Tu’ugasala Ulualetuiatua Fuga.
Krystle Tauai, who is among the two dozen or so church members who put on the fundraising dinner, said she looks forward to it every month.
“Island people like each other’s company,” she said. “We have a rich, happy culture, and we like to laugh, tell funny stories and eat.”
Tauai is among the women who set up the canopies, tables, scales and register while a group of men run the handmade rotisserie that can cook up to 100 chickens at a time.
In the field and in the parking lot, children and teens ride bikes, play football and wrestle. Boys and girls brag about their Polynesian roots, how old they look and how substantial they are.
“We’re big, we’re strong, we’re athletic and we’re fluffy … you know, a little plump,” said Aiden Mana Tupuola, 13, of Kent. “We’re proud of our fluffiness. It makes us good at football.”
“People from Samoa are funny, and we like to play rough” said his cousin Kaden Frost, 12.
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Image: seattletimes.com