Favorite Bites At the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

There were several fantastic new dishes at this year's EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival alongside a few returning delights. These are a few of my favorites.

The Corned Beef Corner Route from Flavors of Fire is surprisingly delicious. The combination of potato chips and cheese cards topped with corned beef, pickled onions, and beer cheese fondue was perfectly seasoned and balanced. I will admit that I didn't eat the onions (I'm really not a fan), but my sister said they were delightful. 

The S’mores Whoopie Pie-lon, also from Flavors of Fire, is a chocolate, marshmallow, bacon lovers dream. The chefs use bacon grease in the smoked chocolate cake, which tempers the sweetness of the marshmallow and creates an unexpectedly fantastic dessert.

The Crispy Barbecue Pork Rinds with Pimento Cheese from the Swanky Saucy Swine were spicy and crunchy, with the best pimento cheese I've ever tasted. They were also seriously hot after I'd eaten a few. The heat really sneaks up on you, but they're really quite good.

The "Le Cellier" Wild Mushroom Beef Filet Mignon with Truffle-Butter Sauce from the Canada Marketplace is my favorite way to start the day at the Festival. The beef is tender and juicy and the wild mushrooms and truffle-butter sauce are the perfect accompaniment. This is a truly decadent dish.

The Canadian Cheddar and Bacon Soup, also from the Canada Marketplace, is Bean's sole reason for going to the Festival each year. It seems to be a neverending goal to eat as much of the soup as possible. I will say though, it is actually delicious. It's cheesy and bacony with the perfect combination of seasonings.

And finally, two beverages from Appleseed Orchard: the Frozen Apple Pie and the Appleblossom Sky. The Frozen Apple Pie is layers of apple pie filling, cinnamon apple slush and graham cracker crumbs. It's not too sweet, very apple-y, and utterly delicious. The Appleblossom Sky is a mixture of Fanta Apple, ginger beer, and apple brandy topped with mini marshmallows drizzled in applejack brandy barrel aged maple syrup. It was unexpectedly amazing. The maple syrup and marshmallows add just the right level of sweetness as counterpoint to the spice of the ginger beer. It's a very well rounded drink and it comes in the cutest plastic Moscow Mule style mug.

So there you have it: a few of my favorites from the 2021 EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival. Which ones are your favorites?

EPCOT International Festival of the Arts 2022

Mom and I at the 2019 Festival

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts kicks off tomorrow, January 14. The festival features a variety of artwork, food, and performing arts that is an absolute delight. One of the best parts of this EPCOT festival is that you can meet and talk with your favorite artists and even have them autograph their artwork. 

More than 100 Disney and visiting artists will be on hand each day showcasing their artwork. Guests can become a part of the art in Artful Photo Ops throughout World Showcase, by learning to draw a Disney Character at Animation Academy, and by painting a few squares at Expression Section: A Paint by Numbers Mural. Fifteen Food Studios will be filled with delicious art-inspired treats that are as delightful to the eye as they are to the taste buds. The Disney On Broadway Concert Series will return with 3 performances each evening. The shows feature Broadway stars performing songs from over 25 years of Disney stage productions. 

And don't forget the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, a food stroll of five sweet and savory dishes listed in the Festival Passport. Once you've purchased and gotten a stamp for the five colorful dishes, head to Deco Delights for your Artist Palette Cookie. 

Here are the dishes you can expect to find in the Food Studios throughout World Showcase.

All food images: Disney

The Craftsman’s Courtyard (near Disney Traders)🧁

• Cast Iron-roasted P.E.I. Mussels with Sautéed Tomatoes, Garlic, and Fresh Herbs🧁
• Cast Iron-seared Steelhead Trout with parsley salad, grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, capers, and lemon aïoli🧁
• Wheat Beer
• Chardonnay
• Rosé
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Wine Flight

El Artista Hambriento (Mexico)

• Huarache Verde: Cilantro huarache with cochinita pibil, fresh pineapple, and pickled onion (New)
• Carne Asada: Seared beef tenderloin, grilled queso fresco, refried beans, scallion, and ranchera salsa 🧁
• Taco de Chocolate: Chocolate candy shell filled with Mexican chocolate mousse with a touch of chile topped with seasonal fruit 🥖 
• Mexican Craft Beer: Crafted with citrus notes and made with Mexican Caribbean seawater
• The Lily: Blanco tequila, violet essence Infusion, rose petal liqueur, cranberry, and lime juice
• Smoky Raspberry: Blanco tequila, rosemary-infused mezcal, ginger cordial, lime juice, and rosemary aroma

The Painted Panda (China)

• General Tso’s Chicken Shumai
• Char Siu Pork Bun
• “Panda” Bubble Tea: Classic milk tea with black and white boba 🧋
• Jasmine Draft Beer
• Eastern Dynasty: Vodka, light rum, strawberry syrup, piña colada mix, soda water, and magic boba pearls
• Kung Fu Punch: Vodka, triple sec, mango syrup, orange juice, and soda water
• Sea Butterfly: Butterfly pea flower-infused cocktail with vodka, light rum, lychee syrup, magic boba pearls

Refreshment Outpost

• Plant-based Bratwurst with spicy turmeric aïoli, coffee barbecue jackfruit, and slaw 🥕
• Artist Palette Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookie
• Blue Raspberry Blonde Ale
• Nairobi Coffee Dark Beer
• Brown Ale

Pastoral Palate (Germany)

• Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib with parsnip purée, broccolini, baby tomatoes, and aged balsamic
• Wild Boar Cassoulet with duck confit, ham hock, and wild boar sausage 🧁
• Opera Cake: Almond joconde, coffee buttercream, and chocolate ganache
• Rosé Hard Cider
• Rosé Blonde Ale
• Frozen Rosé
• A Play on Rosé Flight
• Old Vine Rosé

L’Arte di Mangiare (Italy)

• Arancini: Fried risotto balls stuffed with braised-beef and served with pomodoro sauce 🧁
• Ravioli alla Boscaiola: Sweet sausage ravioli, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and creamy Parmesan sauce 🧁
• Bomboloni: Chocolate-hazelnut Italian doughnut with powdered sugar 🧁
• Peroni Pilsner
• Pinot Grigio
• Chianti
• Prosecco
• Red Sparkling Wine
• Moscato
• Italian White Sangria with Prosecco
• Italian Red Sangria with Cabernet Sauvignon
• Italian Margarita with Tequila and Limoncello
• Amaretto Bellini: Amaretto, White Peach Purée, and Prosecco
• Bergamotto: Rosolio Liqueur, Prosecco, and Olive

The Artist’s Table (America)

• Beef Wellington: Mushroom duxelle, prosciutto, and puff pastry with red wine demi-glace and baby vegetables
• Pan-seared Scallops with vanilla-butternut squash purée, brown butter cauliflower purée, and lime foam 🎨 - Orange
• Pistachio Cake with cherry mousse and morello cherries
• Sipping Chocolate Flight: White, milk, and dark chocolate 🧋
• White Ale
• Amber Ale
• Brown Ale
• Pinot Noir
• Symphony in Chocolate Flight: Cream liqueurs paired with Sipping Chocolates
• Beer Flight

Funnel Cake

• Cherry Blossom Funnel Cake: Chocolate chip funnel cake topped with cherry ice cream, rainbow whipped cream, chocolate chips, and a maraschino cherry 🧁

Goshiki (Japan)

• Chicken Kushiage: Breaded and fried chicken with yum yum sauce and vegetables 🧁
• Sushi Donut: Donut-shaped sushi featuring salmon, tuna, shrimp, cucumber, and sesame seed over a decorated plate of wasabi aïoli, sriracha, and eel sauce
• Winter Ale
• Sake in a traditional personalized wooden cup
• Niseko Flurry: Sake, rum, white cranberry juice, blue curaçao, and lime juice 🧁

Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina (Morocco)

• Carrots Three Ways: Berbere-spiced grilled carrots, pickled carrots, and carrot ginger purée 🧁🥕
• House-made Crispy Almond Phyllo Pockets with white chocolate pomegranate and milk chocolate orange 🧁
• Chai Tea Mint Mimosa: Twinings of London Chai Tea with Key lime sparkling wine and mint
• Sangria Hard Cider
• Chai Hard Cider
• Berry Hard Cider
• Cider Flight

Vibrante & Vívido: Encanto Cocina (Between Morocco & France)

• House-made Chorizo and Potato Empanada with turmeric aïoli and annatto aïoli 🧁🎨 - Yellow
• Spicy Ajiaco Soup with guajillo and árbol chili-spiced chicken, potato, avocado, corn, and crème fraîche🧁🥖 (Gluten/Wheat Friendly) (New)
• Passion Fruit Mousse with Dragon Fruit Jam 🥖
• Coconut and Passion Fruit Smoothie 🧋
• Frozen Piña Colada
• Passion Fruit Daiquiri

L’Art de la Cuisine Française (France)

• Crème de Brie en Petit Pain: Warm creamy brie in a house-made bread bowl
• Croissant à la Truffe Noire d’Hiver: Black winter truffle croissant served warm
• Mousseline de Bisque de Homard Froide, Brioche Feuilletée à l’Aneth: Chilled lobster bisque mousse served with dill brioche 🧁
• Moelleux aux Noisettes et Chocolats Valrhona: Molten chocolate and hazelnut cake with pure origin Valrhona chocolates
• Frozen French Martini: Vodka, black raspberry liqueur, pineapple, orange, and grape juice with lemon-lime foam
• French Rosé Sparkling Wine
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Sparkling Chardonnay

Gourmet Landscapes (Canada)

• Blood Orange-braised Beet Carpaccio with mustard vinaigrette, pickled clamshell mushrooms, golden beets, and crostini 🧁🥕🎨 - Red
• Roasted Bone Marrow with onion marmalade, pickled mushrooms, mache lettuce, and bone marrow snow 🧁
• Wild Mushroom Risotto, Aged Parmesan, Truffle Shavings, and Zinfandel Reduction
• German Lager
• Cuvée Sparkling Wine
• Merlot
• Frozen Rusty Nail Cocktail

Refreshment Port (Near Canada)

• Gnocchi Poutine with red wine-braised beef, cheese curds, basil, and burrata 🧁
• Artist Palette Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookie
• Blood Orange Cosmo: Vodka with blood orange, cranberry, and lime 🧁
• Hard Cider

Pop Eats! (Near Port of Entry)

• Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese
• Tomato Soup with Bacon, Apple, and Brie Grilled Cheese 🧁
• Almond Frangipane Cake layered with raspberry jam and Belgian chocolate
• Pop’t Art: Modern-designed sugar cookie with chocolate-hazelnut filling
• Figment Premium Popcorn Bucket with Rainbow Popcorn (Limit 2 per guest)🧁
• Tomato Soup Can Bloody Mary
• Hazy IPA

The Deconstructed Dish (Near Port of Entry)

• Deconstructed BLT: Crispy pork belly, soft-poached egg, brioche, watercress espuma, and tomato jam
• Deconstructed French Onion Soup: Beef broth ravioli, Gruyère espuma, onion bread pudding, and onion textures 🧁
• Deconstructed Key Lime Pie: Flexible Key lime curd, “Key lime” mousse, graham cracker cake, and meringues 🧁🎨 - Green
• Deconstructed Apple Pie à la Mode: Apple-cinnamon gelato, cinnamon apple cider, apple pie filling, and streusel 🧁🧋
• Brown Ale

Deco Delights (Near Port of Entry)

• Dulce Chocolate Mousse with chocolate crémeux and dark chocolate truffle 🧁
• Decadent Valrhona Chocolate with dark chocolate mousse, chocolate brownie, and cassis mousse 🧁
• Orange Mousse with lemon cake and raspberry meringues 🧁
• Artist Palette Cookie 🎨 - Prize
• Strawberry Blonde Nitro
• Vanilla Porter
• Milk Stout
• Neapolitan Beer Flight

The Donut Box (Near Test Track)

• Vanilla Donut with strawberry sugar, strawberry ice cream, fresh strawberries, and strawberry gele 🧁🎨 - Pink
• Inside Out Donut: Vanilla donut with Bavarian cream 🧁
• Chocolate-dipped Donut with black and gold sugar sprinkles and chocolate buttercream 🧁
• Rosé
• Cold Fashion Coffee Cocktail

Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company

• World Discovery (Near Mission: SPACE) – Mocha Masterpiece Cold Brew: A sweet creamy cold brew topped with whipped cream and chocolate puffs
• Canada – Colorful Canvas Cold Brew: A sweet creamy cold brew topped with whipped cream and fruity cereal
• World Showcase (Near Disney Traders) – Cinnamon Swirl Cold Brew: A sweet creamy cold brew topped with whipped cream and cinnamon squares
• The American Adventure – Rainbow Dreams Cold Brew: A sweet creamy cold crew topped with whipped cream and colorful marshmallow crunch

🧁 New

🧋Non-alcoholic

🥖 Gluten/Wheat Friendly

🥕 Plant-based 

🎨 Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts runs from January 14 through February 21, 2022.

Remy Is Everywhere At This Year's EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

Remy is everywhere at the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival. Our favorite little chef who proved that anyone can cook is the perfect mascot for a festival filled with treats and eats from around the world.

As soon as you enter the park, you'll find Remy on the Festival Passport. This guide to all of the foods and beverages available at the various booths has everything you need to help you keep track of your dining choices. An adorable Remy gift card is also available. The card, which hangs from the wrist, makes paying for all of those delightful dishes exceptionally easy.

For a little more adventure, pick up a map and stickers to play Remy's Ratatouille Hide and Squeak. The map is available at several locations for $6.99. Circles on the map tell you which locations have a hidden Remy, but this year, there's a catch.

In the past, Remy was always out in the open, but this year, he's inside retail locations where he can be protected from the weather. When you're searching for Remy, just remember to look up. He always likes to hide where he can't be reached.

Each Remy is holding an ingredient needed to make Ratatouille: peppers, onions, olive oil, eggplant, salt and pepper, etcetera. Place the matching sticker on your map and look for the next location. When you've found every Remy, take your map to Port of Entry to choose your prize. A cast member will stamp the back to show that you've completed the map.

This year's prize is a travel cup. There are four different designs to choose from: Remy, Figment, Mickey, and Minnie. Of course, I chose Remy.

Each cup also has the "Taste your way around the world" logo. The cups are a fun and useful souvenir of your visit to the Food and Wine Festival. 

Finally, if you want even more Remy, how about an adorable spoon straw. The plastic spoon looks wooden and has Remy in his chef's hat hanging on as if stirring. I found this Remy at Sunshine Seasons. So cute!

Chef Minnie Passholder Gifts At The EPCOT Food and Wine Festival

Disney has been giving Annual Passholders cute character magnets for several years now. They are a fun, free collectible that can often be found at the various EPCOT festivals. This year, Passholders can pick up a Chef Minnie magnet on their first visit to the EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival.

But who can visit the Food and Wine Festival just once, right? There's so many foods to try that it definitely takes a few visits to try most of it. For the past few years, Disney has had an additional gift for Passholders who visit the festival multiple times. The gift has changed over the years: wine glasses, tumblers, and cheese boards to name a few. This year, Passholders will receive a set of coasters on their fourth visit. The set of four wooden coasters, complete with holder, feature a wood-burned Chef Minnie. They're rather fun and more usable than some of the previous gifts. So, if you're an Annual Passholder, be sure to pick them up.

Appleseed Orchard At The EPCOT Food And Wine Festival Is Amazing

One of the new booths at this year's EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival is all about apples. The Appleseed Orchard booth is located inside the theater for the O Canada 360° movie. The name pays tribute to Johnny Appleseed, an American settler who became a legend as he planted apple trees across the midwest.

Inside, the room has been transformed into a giant fair tent, with streamers and lights across the ceiling.

There are two area for ordering: the Wine Bar, which features wines and a charcuterie board, is on the left, and the Cider Bar, which features caramel corn and ciders, is on the right.

The popcorn popper at the Cider Bar is decorated with an image of Johnny Appleseed as he appeared in Disney's classic cartoon. 

The Frozen Apple Pie is absolutely fantastic! It features layers of apple pie filling, apple cinnamon slush, and pie crust crumbles. It is my favorite drink at this year's festival.

The Caramel-Apple Popcorn is a bit pricey at $10, but it tastes delightful and comes in an adorable souvenir apple. The popcorn is green and caramel colored and does taste like caramel and apples.

Outside in the Kidcot area, there's a display with an old-fashioned cider press and crates of many different types of apples. Overall, the Appleseed Orchard booth is a delightful experience and I can't wait to stop by again on my next trip to EPCOT'S International Food and Wine Festival.

More EPCOT Food and Wine Festival Merchandise

Photos courtesy of Disney 

Yesterday, the Disney Parks Blog shared photos of more of the new merchandise for this year's festival. The festival runs from September 14 through November 14, 2016. All of these wonderful collectibles can be found at the Festival Center, which is open every day during the festival, in Future World. Some can also be select locations throughout EPCOT. Select items will also be available from the Shop Disney Parks app.

The Festival gift card is returning this year. And the new "Taste your way around the world" shirts look fantastic.

There are a ton of new Figment products this year, from aprons and oven mitts to t-shirts and ornaments. You can also find more of the salt and pepper trashcans, this time with Chef Figment and the event logo. (I must admit, I rather love the trashcans. I have a set of Fantasyland ones.)

And this year, Made with Magic items will work with the Eat to the Beat concert series. The Minnie Mouse headband is especially cute. I can't wait for all the food and fun at the Food and Wine Festival. And I may have to have the new "Taste your way around the world" shirts. What are you most looking forward to?

EPCOT Food and Wine Festival Coins

The new collectible coins from EPCOT are pretty cool. I have a set from the Flower and Garden Festival earlier this year and a new set of four coins was released for the Food and Wine Festival. There are four coins in the set: Chef Figment, Chef Mickey, Chef Remy, and Chef Minnie.

All 4 have the EPCOT  International Food and Wine Festival logo and the year on the back. The coins are either $5 a piece, or $10 for 3 and the machine takes $1, $5, $10 Bill's or a credit card. While it would be cool if they offered the full set for a reduced price, I just chose 3 each time. The coin machine can be found inside Port of Entry.