Food and Wine Festival 2019
October 2019 marked Marcus and I’s 5 year wedding anniversary! I was just blow away on how fast these past years went; but they have been some of my favorite years I have ever lived.
Wanting to do something special, we both racked our brains for something that we could really commemorate the milestone in our lives. After lots of talks and suggestions, we decided to celebrate by going to Orlando's Disney parks! (Yes, we were grouped into the childless millennial category. No worries, though didn’t get into any pretzel line).
Our second day at the parks we chose to enjoy our day at Epcot! It also just happened to be Epcot’s 2019 Food and Wine Festival. Although, we are not much of drinkers we are super into food! I was SO excited to find out we would be going at this time. How it works: Epcot is known for having food from around the world because of the different countries they have built around the lake. WIth the Festival going on they have more food booths that serve both food and wine from all the different countries around the world.
At every stop they provided a free food passport with stickers to make which ones you eat on the way! So Marcus and I ate around the world and this is what we had.
Kāalua Pork Slider with Sweet-and-Sour DOLE® Pineapple Chutney and spicy Mayonnaise in Hawaii
So far this is the closest I have been to Hawaii which is very high on my bucket list right now. Any food that has pineapple in I am there! This slider was the first of the food we tried. It is basically two bites worth of a serving. The combination was good; the flavors worked well together. Nothing truly mind blowing but I would go back for another if there wasn’t so many other foods on our list that day!
Grilled Sweet-and-Spicy Bushberry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion, and Snap Peas in Australia
Marcus is huge into seafood and most of all huge into shrimp! I am not a seafood person. So a couple of items on this list we did not share. Marcus thought this dish was just ok. I had some of the veggies in the dish and understood where he came from. The flavors weren’t our favorite.
Charcuterie in a Cone with a selection of imported Spanish Meats, Cheeses, and Olives with an Herb Vinaigrette in Spain
I felt so fancy eating this dish! It was literally just meat, cheese, and olives, but that didn’t matter! This was one of my favorites dishes of the day. All the flavors were there; there was such a good variety in such a small little cone but didn’t feel heavy on the gut. Marcus and I both approved.
Kenyan Coffee Barbecue Beef Tenderloin with Sweet Potato and Corn Mealie Pap and Kachumbari Slaw in Africa
Coffee has never let me down. This dish was no exception. I had picked this one out early on with high hopes of something good. The presentation was a little different but the flavors quickly made this dish my favorite one of the day. It had almost a sweet curry flavor that had a refreshing quality to it. Marcus is not a curry person in the slightest. I was glad to have this dish mostly to myself!
New England Lobster Roll: Warm Lobster with fresh Herb Mayonnaise and Griddled Roll in good old US of A
Another sea food dish, this lobster roll basically had Marcus in the palm of its butter roll. He LOVED it. Afterwards, Marcus proclaimed this dish to be his favorite of the day. So for any seafood people this is one you will not want to skip!
Boeuf Braisé à la Bordelaise, Pomme Dauphine: Beef Braised in Cabernet Sauvignon with Red Onions and Puffed Potatoes in France
I was excited to try this dish. One thing that Epcot did I thought was really cool was all the servers at each “country” were from the actual country. Their server badge had the city they were from in each country. I thought it was just a fun way to make the experience feel authentic. I have heard of this dish from movies so I wanted to give it a try. It was pretty basic stew taste. It was nothing special.
Moqueca: Brazilian Seafood Stew featuring Scallops, Shrimp, and White Fish with Coconut-Lime Sauce and Steamed Rice in Brazil
This seafood stew was a dish for Marcus but I had a small bite of the rice. It was too fishy for my personal taste. It sounded like it had SO much potential but Marcus didn’t particularly care for it.
Spicy Roll: Spicy Tuna and Salmon Sushi Roll topped with Volcano Sauce in Japan
We love sushi! Sushi is the only exception to my seafood dislike. Even though it was tuna, this roll was a little more familiar with what we normally eat. Not super fresh but it was still a solid sushi roll.
Caramel Apple Popcorn in Appleseed Orchard Wine Bar
I loved the container this food item came it! I knew it was worth getting just for the apple container. Thankfully the Caramel Apple popcorn was just as delicious as all the photos and press gave it! It was a sweet treat to end our trip around the world with!
This is my honest opinion as a first time Food and Wine Festival goer. I went in coming off the Minnesota State Fair into this anniversary food adventure with HIGH hopes. If you are not a Minnesota native you probably wonder why I bring up the State Fair. The Minnesota State Fair has some of my favorite annual foods that keep me coming back for more and day dreaming about until August each year. Every year they add new foods to try which makes me start planning the moment the list comes out before the fair even opens. The foods are mouthwateringly delicious. ( I can give you some recommendations upon request!)
I know Disney does not spare expense when it comes to making their client experience amazing for everyone that goes. With that in mind I was not impressed with the quality and flavors of the food we purchased at Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival. I wouldn’t go back to Disney’s Epcot just for this food festival, but it was a fun experience to try at least once in my life! I am so gratefully Marcus and I were able to have this fun time together and share in this experience.
Bonus Foods at Disney Springs
These items are not at Epcot but I could not leave them out of the post. Disney Springs is a little free access “Downtown Disney” with food and shopping. Marcus and I hit it up the first night to explore and ended up spending a solid 20 minutes in their Christmas Store. It took everything in me not to buy the whole store out. (Disney knows what it is doing!) But back to the food!
This little cake is from Amorette's Patisserie. It is the Mickey Mouse cake: Chocolate Chiffon Cake, Dark Chocolate Mousse and White Chocolate Mousse. It was the perfect combination of light and fluffy with a little bit of crunch. It was so delicious I wish we could have brought a large one home with us! I highly recommend this mini cake to get you into the Disney spirit!
We later grabbed dinner and Marcus was eyeing these nachos. Believe me when I tell you these were literally the best nachos of my life! I am not joking when I say these nachos were the best tasting food we had on out Disney trip and you DON’T EVEN NEED TO GO TO A PARK TO GET THEM! We have joked about having them flown to us. But if you are in Disney Springs go to the West Side and the sell them on a little barbecue hut on the right side of House of Blues.
