The International Food and Wine Festival is the ULTIMATE reason to visit Disney’s Epcot in Orlando, Florida. Epcot is traditionally known for its diverse menus of food and drinks from places around the world. During the festival dates, even more stalls are added to Epcot’s walkways featuring different countries and their noteworthy offerings. You literally eat and sip your way through the day trying fare from countries you most likely dream of traveling to. It’s a pretty ideal situation if you ask me.
Epcot’s Food and Wine fest happens during the August to November timeframe. Therefore, a visit to the festival towards the end of October and into November is prime. It’s by that time that the fall weather in Florida is ~showing off~ and you may even get away with wearing a light jacket in the evening.
A lot of the ease in the day will come from the group of people you go to the festival with, so choose your crew wisely. Go with an adventurous group that likes to try different things. Surround yourself with people that don’t mind sharing a bite of this or a sip of that. After all, the true fun in Epcot’s Food and Wine festival is trying everything you can.
This year Ben and I visited Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival with our friends and Ben’s mom. Rose gold Minnie Mouse ears on my head, comfortable shoes on my feet, and an empty stomach to boot – I was ready to MAX. You see, I’d been to Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival before. The first time I was too hungover to completely indulge. The second time we were slightly crunched for time. This third time was going to be the charm. I could just feel it.
My assumption was right – this third visit was fantastic. The weather was beautiful, the food and drinks were plentiful, and it was all around a Saturday well spent. The crowd at Epcot picked up throughout the day, but it was still easy for us to navigate “around the world” (a phrase you learn to love as you hit different stalls during the festival).
Today on Keeping Up with Kahla I’m sharing the food and drinks we enjoyed this year at Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival. I’m listing out each stall I ordered from and dishing on what I treated my taste buds to.
The Appleseed Orchard
Charcuterie and Cheese Plate: This was one of my first food items at the festival. A little meat, a little cheese. A lot of yum.
Frog’s Leap Zinfandel: I’d like to start off by saying that I thought Zinfandel was a white wine. This was an amateur assumption born from a time when I had subbed White Zinfandel for Rosé at a restaurant. You can probably imagine my surprise when this wine came served very much a red. It was still tasty. I’m by no means switching to Team Red, but I’m also no wine waster.
Canada
Canadian Cheddar and Bacon Soup: This soup RULES. Truth to be told it was one of the first things I could stomach that questionable first year. Ever since then this soup has been a F&W favorite for me. I sop up most the liquid gold with the pretzel roll they give you. Who needs a spoon?
Château Des Charmes Vidal Icewine: Super duper sweet, tiny, and damn it goes down like juice.
The Cheese Studio
Florida Orange Groves Winery Sparkling Blueberry Wine: Blueberry wiiiiiine at seveeeeenteeeeen. Anyone? I’d love a bottle of this wine to have at home. Lucky for me it’s local to St. Petersburg, Florida.
France
Fondue Savoyarde: As a self proclaimed fondue fanatic I was excited to order this. My only complaint is that I wish I had more croutons to enjoy my mini bucket of cheese with.
La Passion Martini Slushy: I don’t love slushies, but I’ll make special exceptions for ones that contain vodka, especially Grey Goose. This one was totally worth it.
Hawaii
Grilled Tuna Tataki: I hate to say it, but I didn’t love this choice. And that’s coming from a gal that LOVES ahi tuna. Unfortunately it just didn’t impress because it had a funky aftertaste that reminded me of freezer burn.
Teriyaki-glazed SPAM Hash: This hash made up for the tuna tataki and then some. I don’t eat spam on the reg, but if I did I’d want it to be served to me this way every time.
AULANI Sunrise: Vodka, pineapple juice, and grenadine. This was a sweet and tasty concoction that I drank faster than I probably should have.
Hops & Barley
New England Lobster Roll: Everyone in our group snagged one of these rolls from this American stall. I look forward to these lobster rolls every year at Food and Wine.
Angry Orchard Rosé Hard Cider: Crisp and refreshing, just the way I like my ciders.
Italy
Costine di Maiale: These pork ribs literally could have been a MEAL for me. The portion size was huge and I was a big fan of the balsamic glaze that coated these ribs.
Ravioli Carbonara: 10/10 would recommend these pockets o’pasta.
Traditional Sicilian Cannoli: I needed a little somethin’ somethin’ to satisfy my sweet tooth and this cannoli was it.
Prosecco: Can’t go wrong with some liquid bubbles. I gave myself a silent toast for traveling around the world in a day.
Mexico
Full disclosure: our group skipped the Mexico stall and took a seat the restaurant instead. The cheese empanadas I had were on point. I paired those with a margarita that ended up being slightly too sweet for me. Luckily it came dusted in a chili lime rim that aided in my tequila trials.
Spain
Charcuterie in a Cone: Yep you read that right: that’s charcuterie served to you in a literal cone. I had conquered board style charcuterie earlier in the day, so the cone style one was an acceptable (and tasty) change up.
Have you ever been to the International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot? What have you tried? Let’s chat in the comments below.
