Throughout the year, Disney World changes to celebrate the seasons. Halloween decorations come out in the fall, and Mickey pumpkins flicker down Main Street. In the winter, lights cover and hang from every possible ledge. Throughout these seasonal changes, Epcot rolls through a series of festivals. At the beginning of the year, it celebrates the Festival of the Arts. Then, spring brings the Flower and Garden Festival. Right around the time that the weather begins to cool off, Epcot celebrates the Food and Wine Festival before rounding off the year with the Festival of the Holidays.
Each festival brings its own merchandise, decorations, activities, musical acts, and food. With festival booths set up around the park, guests are free to wander from booth to booth, eating, drinking, shopping, and exploring their way through unique and interesting flavors. Though there are dozens of delicious items, there are always several stand-out favorites every year.
Grecian food is rich in authentic aromas and pure ingredients, according to Visit Greece. The secret to delicious Greek dishes is relatively simple. Use quality ingredients with plenty of herbs, and don’t be shy about olive oil. The cuisine dates back over 4,000 years and holds the very origins of a “symposium,” a term which means to “drink with friends.” And there’s no better place to drink and eat with your friends than at Epcot.
For some delicious Grecian food, check out the Greek booth between the Japan and Morocco pavilions. There, you’ll find a favorite of many foodies at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival: Griddled cheese. This dish may be best described as a charcuterie board all in one bite. For this one, kasseri cheese gets a nice sear on top, adding a delicious crunchy crust to the cheese. Then, it gets honey and pistachios to top it off. This dish is deceptively simple, but with the smoothness and slight sweetness of the kasseri cheese, it is the perfect pairing with the bit of drizzled honey on top. The extra crunch from pistachios finishes this one off nicely.
Every year, new festival booths join the fun. In 2022, the fry basket is one of those new booths. Though often called “French” fries, fries are actually of Belgian origins, National Geographic explains. As the story goes, along the River Meuse, villagers would fry up potatoes rather than fish once the water started to freeze over.
Regardless of their original lineage, fries today look much different than they must have been when Americans discovered this Belgian secret dish during World War I. For example, the fry basket at Epcot takes fries on quite the adventure and flavor-filled journey from savory and bitter to smokey and sweet. The fry flight includes three types of fries. The sea salt and malt vinegar fries come naturally plant-based and are the most traditional of the offerings in the flight. The fries do have a bit of a vinegar kick, but if you love malt vinegar, you’ll love these. Next, the barbecued bacon fries come topped with a smoked aïoli, and these taste like a near-complete barbecue on a French fry. Finally, the sweet potato casserole fries round off the flight. These come topped with candied pecans, toasted marshmallow cream, and a caramel whisky sauce. It’s giving total Thanksgiving day casserole vibes, and it may just be our favorite pick of these three.
Traditional scampi typically includes seafood like shrimp or even shrimp and scallops atop noodles. It’s loaded with carbs, butter, and flavor. Though it is typically served as a main course, the Coastal Eats booth at Epcot serves it as a dip. You’ll find this booth right outside the Creations store, across the path from a family playground.
If you’re looking for a warm, rich snack at the festival, the baked scampi dip may be the perfect option for you. This gooey dip has shrimp and scallops in a rich sauce. It’ll come with a sliced baguette on the side for you to dip into the scampi, but you may find yourself wanting just to lick the bowl clean. In previous years, the bread paired with the scampi has been much crunchier than it is this year. Now, with the rather soft baguette, this dip tastes like pure comfort.
Dishes from Brazil are known throughout the world. This blend of European, African, and Caribbean flavors comes together to create the cuisine of Brazil. However, with so much being blended together, the country has vast differences in its cuisine. That said, one of the consistent dishes is the national dish called feijoada. This favorite Brazilian dish is a bean, pork, and beef stew served over a bean of rice.
You’ll find the Brazil booth between Morocco and France, and though this booth has been part of the festival since 1996, this popular Brazilian dish is new for the 2022 festival. Epcot’s take on feijoada is a delicious black bean, pork belly, and nut pesto mixture, all atop white rice. For a festival booth size, the portion is quite substantial, too. Wait until you taste the garlic and onion in this one because it is an absolute explosion of flavor. It also pairs well with the Brazilian cheese bread called pão de queijo.
Chicken wings are just about the perfect dish for entertaining and snacking. The National Chicken Council shares that the origin of the fried chicken wing comes out of Buffalo, New York. In 1964, the co-owner of the Anchor Bar, Teressa Bellissimo, took chicken drums and flats, coated them in a spicy sauce, and served them as a late-night snack for her son and his friends.
Wings also scream camaraderie, so they pair well with beer and friends. That’s why the Brew-Wing booth at the festival offers delicious wings and beers in a variety of exciting flavors. The sriracha-lime wings are perfectly spicy (but not overly hot) and come with a lime wedge to squeeze over your wings. On the side, you’ll have some celery and ranch to help cut the spice if you happen to need it. After all, we eat celery with Buffalo wings because the water-packed celery provides a cooling and refreshing effect.
Whether you love them or hate them, Healthline explains that Brussels sprouts are good for you. They’re low in calories and high in fiber and contain many vitamins that your body needs. For example, Brussels sprouts are a great source of vitamin K, which supports bone health, and vitamin C, which promotes high immune function. And the best part is that Brussels sprouts are incredibly flexible and can suit whatever flavor profile you want.
Brussels sprouts also serve as a great offering in the Brew-Wing booth. These Brussels sprouts are fried up and mixed with buffalo sauce. It’s the perfect option for anyone looking for a taste of hot sauce without chomping into a wing. One of the best parts about these Brussels sprouts is that they won’t make your fingers dirty, unlike wings. So if you’re hoping to make it out of the Brew-Wing booth stain free, this may be the perfect dish for you.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines corned beef as a cut from cattle that are preserved with salt and other spices. A pit master will brine a brisket and then smoke that up for corned beef. Like other briskets, the name of the game is low and slow for the best results.
So it comes as no surprise then that Epcot’s offering of corned beef for the Food and Wine Festival is smoked at the Flavors from Fire booth. This dish includes smoked corned beef on a bed of crispy potatoes, cheese curds, pickled and tart onions, and topped with a beer-cheese fondue. Topped with the fondue, the tender and salty corned beef with tart onions meld together very well for a delicious bite. This offering feels a little like loaded chips because the crispy potatoes are closer to chips than french fries. Be sure you grab a fork for this one because it’s a little messy, even with the chips.
Some guests that approach the fry basket may not realize the differences between yuca and yucca. These homonyms sound the same, but they’re pretty different from one another. Yuca, the type of vegetable the fry basket offers, comes from the root of a cassava plant and acts like a potato. On the other hand, the yucca root is not a food, but a good ingredient for soap or shampoo.
In addition to the fry flight, the fry basket booth also offers delicious adobo yuca fries with garlic-cilantro aïoli on top. The seasonings on these yuca fries create a delightful, tender fry that feels like a typical fry but tastes like so much more. You’ll find that these fries taste a little like garlic bread with a creamy sauce. Even if you are a person who does not like cilantro, you’ll still enjoy this offering because the cilantro flavor is barely there.
Though carrot cake existed long before the 20th century, the real reason carrot cake became popular in the 1970s may just surprise you. While other cakes contain no vegetables, carrot cake became popular when the health crazy began because it was believed to be relatively healthy. While the vegetables are healthy, the cream cheese frosting is far from “healthy” food (though it’s a wonderful treat).
In the American pavilion, you’ll find a festival booth called Hops and Barley. There, you’ll find one of the best desserts at the festival (seriously). The freshly baked carrot cake is a moist cake topped with delicious cream cheese frosting. To ensure your cake tastes as fresh as possible, the frosting does not go on until the very last minute. Though it may look like a little hand-held cake, you’ll definitely want to grab a fork for this one because the frosting makes it incredibly gooey.
With a cake-like exterior and a gooey center, pudding cake originated in Britain as a Christmas season tradition. It is now a popular cake dessert in the United States, where it has grown in scope and flavor to encompass non-traditional flavors like lemon soufflé.
At Epcot, you’ll find this sweet treat at the Ireland booth between the United Kingdom pavilion and Canada. This booth offers a warm chocolate pudding cake with an Irish cream liquor custard drizzled over the top. The cake is rich, moist, and perfectly gooey on the outside, while the sauce is the perfect accompaniment. The custard melts a little into the cake so everything combines really well here. If you love the flavor of Bailey’s Irish Cream, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy this offering. If you’re looking for a great drink pairing that will up your dessert game, you don’t even need to leave the Ireland booth.
According to Guinness, the prestige of this stout dates back to Arthur Guinness, the first to brew at St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. On December 31, 1759, he signed a 9,000-year lease on the space, and the legacy began. Guinness and Ireland are so interconnected that they share a symbol: the harp. However, Guinness had it trademarked first, so when Ireland adopted it as an official symbol, the harp needed to face the opposite direction for trademark purposes.
Today, Guinness makes a great ingredient in all kinds of dishes, and it’s no surprise you can find it represented at the Ireland booth in Epcot. So consider ordering the Guinness Baileys coffee shake to complement your warm chocolate pudding cake. The coffee from the shake will help make your chocolate cake even more delicious, and the frost of the shake will ensure you don’t get too warm in the Florida heat.
Nearly every town and city in America has at least one Mexican restaurant. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History reports that the later half of the 20th century brought Mexican-inspired cuisine into mainstream culture and began blending the traditions of Mexican flavors with regional American cultures.
Though the Mexico booth has been part of the Food and Wine Festival for many years, the Mexico booth always seems to have new offerings, and this year is no different. One of those new items is tacos al pastor. This dish is a seared pork belly atop a corn tortilla with chipotle black beans, pineapple, chives, and pickled onions. This delicious meal is also gluten-free without modifications, perfect for those looking for a gluten-free Food and Wine Festival experience. This taco dish is deliciously savory with brightness from pineapple, and even the black beans have a delicious chipotle flavor. Of course, as soon as you finish one taco, you’re bound to want another.
Smithsonian Magazine credits the original barbecue to the Spanish people Christopher Columbus met on Hispaniola, and they called it barbacoa. This style of cooking is what barbecue is today: Cooking meat over an indirect flame to avoid burning. Often, these barbacoa pits were dug out of the ground.
At the Mexico booth, you’ll find a new dish called tostada de barbacoa. This offering includes a fried corn tortilla topped with barbacoa beef, black beans, salsa verde, Mexica crema, queso fresco, and a sprinkle of chives. Like the other new offering at this booth, taco al pastor, the tostada de barbacoa is gluten-free. With plenty of fresh ingredients on top of the meat, the tostada de barbacoa is a perfect choice for guests who love the condiments on tacos. And if you’re concerned about the heat, between the Mexican crema and queso fresco, you have plenty to mellow out the spicier barbacoa and salsa flavors.
Lettuce wraps are a delicious take on a classic wrapping for a sandwich. Rather than bread or tortillas, lettuce is the perfect veggie to contain the trappings of a sandwich. They often appear on the menu of Asian-inspired restaurants, but lettuce wraps can be used for nearly any type of filling.
At Epcot, check out the Swanky Saucy Swine booth near the entrance to the World Showcase. This booth joined the Food and Wine Festival in 2021 and quickly became a guest favorite. The newest addition to the menu is the grilled pork shoulder lettuce wraps, and they’re already getting rave reviews. These lettuce wraps hold grilled pork shoulder, corn salsa, pickled red onion, and cilantro-lime crema. The condiment toppings of the corn and crema bind all the flavors together. These lettuce wraps are deliciously fresh and offer a tasty bite that is balanced between fresh and savory with a little bite from the pickled onion.
German food is typically focused on bread, potatoes, and meat, explains Expatrio. While the popular dishes often include schnitzel, which is breaded and fried meat, or rouladen, which includes bacon, pickles, and veal or beef, the Epcot pavilion offers a less common, but no less classic, dish.
You’ll find the German booth right outside of the Germany pavilion. It offers the classic schinkennudeln dish, and Collins Dictionary translates “schinkennudeln” to mean noodles with ham; that’s just a perfect description of this comfort food. You’ll get a square cut of a casserole-type dish, all baked and warm with layers of pasta, cheese, ham, and onion. It’ll remind you of those many mac and cheese lunches as a kid, but this time, you get to enjoy it while sipping German beer and walking around Epcot. In fact, if you’re looking for something to wash this down with, the Germany booth has both a beer for non-beer drinkers with their Schöfferhofer Pineapple Hefeweizen, as well as the German beer lover with the Weihenstephaner Lager.
Like any good origin story, the mimosa’s beginnings are somewhat cloudy. Chilled Magazine credits a bartender with the mimosa’s creation when he combined equal parts champagne and orange juice in 1925 while working at the Ritz Hotel of Paris. However, he is certainly not the first person to combine these ingredients. In 1921, Buck’s Fizz from Buck’s Club in London, but this one included more champagne than orange juice. Still, others credit director Alfred Hitchcock with its invention because he loved mimosas so much. While he may not have created it, Hitchcock may have been the one that first popularized it in America.
In any case, mimosas now come in many different varieties. Near the entrance to the World Showcase, you’ll find a Food and Wine booth called Shimmering Sips. There, you can order four different mimosas: tropical mimosa, key lime mimosa, blood orange mimosa, berry sour ale mimosa, or a mimosa flight to sample several. The best of these three is the tropical mimosa. This sip combines passion fruit, orange, and guava juices with sparkling wine. It’s a delicious twist on the classic favorite and takes POG (passion, orange, guava) juice to a whole new level.
During World War II, American soldiers often told journalists that they fought hard to preserve the American way of life by saying they were fighting for “mom and apple pie.” This, therefore, helped create the phrase, “As American as mom and apple pie.” However, before those proclamations, apple pie had a long history. When European colonists first settled in Jamestown, they brought apples with them, which was the start of America’s obsession with apples. Before that, the only native apple tree to grow in America was the crab apple tree, but since apples cross-pollinate so easily, by 1800, Americans were already growing over 14,000 kinds of apples, but they were mostly meant for cider.
Even still, apple pies followed in the subsequent decades. Epcot celebrates this love of apples with a large area devoted to apple treats called the Appleseed Orchard. You’ll find it under the main Canada pavilion by following a path that leads through the Victorian Gardens. In this area, you’ll find air conditioning, great ciders, an apple tart, and frozen apple pie. This little drink is a dessert in a cup, and it comes with a strudel topping that makes the drink taste like apple pie.
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