AURORA — A thousand pancakes weren't nearly enough, not for the hundreds of people who waited in a long, winding line Sunday during the opening two hours of the first Taste of Ethiopia Grand Festival.

"We're going to have to order more," said an ebullient chief cook Sophia Belew of the whole wheat flatbread Ethiopians call injera, which is both bread and utensil to gobble gastric delights such as gomenand wot.

Belew oversaw 14 people from the festival's native land who cooked up a pile of food Saturday and served it Sunday to an estimated 5,000 people of several races and cultural backgrounds.

The Denver metro area is home to at least 17 Ethiopian restaurants, according to Ethiopian community organizers, but Sunday's event had an edge on the competition, in Belew's opinion.

"You go can go to the restaurants and get all the food, but you have to come here for the music, the communal coffee, the wonderful jewelry and clothes that are for sale, but especially the hospitality," she said, as the tumult of pounding bass drums and festival chatter filled the background.

Seated in a circle beneath a tree nearby, Jeff Pfeifer, his wife, Erin, and their three children, all younger than 6, sat in a circle with the food in the center. They sampled from the four Styrofoam plates as their mother, a former Peace Corps worker in Ethiopia, explained each dish.

"We want them to know a world bigger than Colorado," Jeff Pfeifer said.

The Pfeifers also demonstrated what it meant to be an Ethiopian for a day, according to festival organizer Nebiyu Asfaw's explanation of the culture before a dance exhibit that filled the Laredo Elementary gymnasium to standing room only.

"We are a people with a culture of sharing," he said.

Teenagers, mostly first-generation Americans, performed ancient dances from across Ethiopia, stirring the audience to applause and whoops.

A number of elected officials and candidates were in attendance Sunday. Aurora Mayor Steve Hogan said the students in the city's public school system represent almost 100 countries of origin, including Ethiopia.

"This is the type of diversity and the type of community we ought to encourage, respect and enjoy in the city of Aurora," he told the packed gymnasium.

Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174, or