My Grandparents on Mom's side were Mennonites. My Grandfather used to say Grace before each meal in German and I actually learned to speak pretty good German just by being around them so much growing up.
According to Mom they were relatively strict up until the 70's or so when they really started to loosen up on the social restrictions. The rural area where I grew up didn't have a true Mennonite church since the 50's and most of them moved on to a more non-denominational Christianity well before I came around so I never experienced the true old fashioned Mennonite.
They, and the rest of the Mennonite community where I grew up, were always the most giving and charitable people I've ever met in my entire life. Nobody would go hungry or cold Mennonite or not if they had any say about it.
I was a skinny little bugger until I started to spend most of my weekends eating Oma's cooking. Her Saturday baking regimen is, I'm sure, the main reason for my more portly physique... I inherited her Mennonite cookbooks and now I can't wait to start pulling out the old recipes for Christmas.
It's a lot of fun teaching my kids the proper pronunciation for the dishes and see what they think of each one. To my great joy my daughter likes cottage cheese wareneki (very similar to perogies) with brown butter and sweetened sour cream sauce. The rest of my family including my own father refers to them as "art gum erasers". I guess they're an acquired taste. 
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