The flavors of the Middle East will be on full display in Vicksburg Feb. 5.

St George Antiochian Orthodox, 2709 Washington St., will host its 58th annual Lebanese dinner with 3,500 people expected to attend.

“The income from that helps us keep our church surviving,” church member Gregory Thomas said. “A lot of our members are elderly and it really helps.”

Dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. Tickets to the meal cost $13 and include baked kibbeh, cabbage rolls, green beans with tomatoes sauce and a portion of tabouli, a traditional Lebanese salad with cracked wheat.

The church has been working for weeks to prepare the meal in order to feed the thousands of people expected to attend.

“We started working over a week ago,” Thomas said. “They do the sweets first. Today, we will do all the kibbeh and the kibbeh will be frozen until next weekend. Then next Saturday, we will start early in the morning and we will roll approximately 13,000 cabbage rolls. They will start Friday wilting the cabbage getting it soft enough where you can actually roll with it. We will start rolling Saturday morning and usually we will be here until about 8 p.m.”

Thomas’s mom was one of the original founders of the dinner at the church and he said he has been helping prepare the meal his entire life.

“I don’t think the church could survive without it and the support of people here in the city,” Thomas said. “I have been here since I can remember. I remember being a little child helping. It is a lot of work and it is a lot of fun.”

Growing up in a Lebanese household, the food served at the dinner were stables for Thomas, but he said those served at the church are comparable to any he’s had even though it’s made on a large scale.

“I am Lebanese, full blooded Lebanese,” Thomas said. “I have eaten this food from so many different people — my mother, my grandmother, all my aunts. Frankly, this is some of the best food that I eat. You would think the mass production, there’s no cut backs whatsoever. Everything is done exactly the same.”