I won’t be hitting the Epcot Food and Wine Festival this year until the tail end of it, but that doesn’t mean I can start thinking about and planning what I’m going to eat and drink now! The good news is that a lot of my favorites from past years are back, so for those who may be going for the first time I can still put together a list of what I consider the best items at Food and Wine this year. I may throw a little bonus list in at the end of the things I haven’t tried yet but sound most intriguing to me!
Obviously everyone’s tastes are different and this is totally objective. A bit about my food preferences: I like bold flavors and spices. I eat almost anything but especially love seafood. When it comes to dessert I’m almost going to choose chocolate, but I like fruit too (especially combined with chocolate!). In terms of drinks I enjoy both beer and wine, though I tend to favor beer most of the time. For beers my favorites are wheat and saisons, I like certain IPAs but can be picky, and I’m not really a fan of dark beers. For wine I like sweet whites and drierreds like Pinot Noir, though I’ll also favor a sweet red once in awhile.
So based on my personal preferences and tastes, here are the items that make my list!
Must-Try items at the 2018 Epcot Food and Wine Festival:
Loaded Mac n’ Cheese (Active Eats) with Nueske’s Pepper Bacon, cheddar cheese, peppers, and green onions. There are many things I am known for loving in this world (Disney mugs, for instance). One of those things is mac n’ cheese. Lots of people had talked about this mac n’ cheese so I had to try it. And it was good! It was a bit spicy, which I appreciated, and I think it could have used even more cheese.
African wine flight (Africa) – if you’re going to get any wine flight at the festival, I recommend this one. JamJar is a long favorite of ours, but the other two on this flight were surprisingly good as well.
Spicy Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew (Africa) with vegan yogurt was really tasty, and it’s a great options for vegetarians. It had a robust flavor, though I do wish our portion had more of the vegan yogurt on the top, which helped break up the stew consistency a little bit.
Beer Flight (Brewer’s Collection) – this was my favorite of the beer flights. The pomegranate beer was a standout, despite the low ABV. The other two provided a nice variety without being too strong.
Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (Canada) served with a pretzel roll. I know it’s way over-hyped but it really is delicious, especially with that pretzel roll. Though I feel like it would be even better with bacon on top. I guess the vegetarians wouldn’t like that though.
Liquid Nitro Chocolate-Almond Truffle (The Chocolate Studio) with warm whiskey caramel. This is a pretty cool and unique dessert. They dip the truffle into liquid nitrogen, and then break it open with a hammer to get into into pieces you can eat. It’s a very chocolate-y dessert, and probably would have been too much to eat on my own. It definitely seemed shareable to me, but I loved the unique flavors.
Seared Scallops (Coastal Eats) – with roasted corn and butterbean succotash and chili-chipotle butter sauce, these scallops were very well cooked with excellent flavor. I love seeing a booth dedicated to seafood.
La Passion Martini slush (France) with vodka, Grey Goose Le Citron, and cranberry and passion fruit juice. Even in the rain this was a very enjoyable beverage. You can’t taste much alcohol, but it was tart and cold and good.
Loaded Greek “nachos” (Greece) – with pita chips, meatless sausage crumbles, and vegan tzatziki. We don’t have Greek food very often so the flavors are different for us, and this was a yummy combination.
Kalua Pork Slider (Hawaii) – This is a festival favorite that is around every year, and there’s a good reason. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and just all around delicious.
Warm Indian Bread (India) – if you can’t get to Sanaa, this is a great option at Epcot. The bread service at Sanaa is one of my favorite food dishes ever, and this is like a mini version of it.
Chocolate Baklava (Morocco): rolled phyllo dough with toasted almonds and dark chocolate sauce. This was pretty tasty as it had lots of things I like. I enjoy baklava, and adding chocolate and almonds made it even better.
Lamb Meatball with spicy tomato chutney (New Zealand). Though not in the description, it was also served on some sort of pastry. There were a lot of really good flavors going on here, so we enjoyed it a lot, though we did find it a bit difficult to eat.
Items I haven’t tried yet, but really want to:
- Chilled Coffee featuring Godiva Chocolate Liqueur (Belgium)
- Moqueca: Brazilian Seafood Stew featuring Scallops, Shrimp and White Fish with Coconut-lime Sauce and Steamed Rice (Brazil)
- Lump Crab Cake with Napa Cabbage Slaw and Avocado-lemongrass Cream (Coastal Eats)
- Flight #2 (Craft Drafts)
- Crème Brûlée à la Confiture de Framboises: Crème Brûlée with House-made Raspberry Jam (France)
- Taste of Greece: Chicken Souvlaki, Feta Cheese Dip with Warm Pita and Lamb Sausage with a Dill Tomato Ragu (Greece)
- Madras Red Curry with Roasted Cauliflower, Baby Carrots, Chickpeas and Basmati Rice (India)
- Guinness Baileys Shake (Ireland)
- Blood Orange Mimosa with Sparkling Wine and Blood Orange Juice (Shimmering Sips Mimosa Bar)
- Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Vinaigrette, Parmesan Cheese and Pumpkin Seeds (Wine and Dine Studio)
What would you be most interested in eating at the 2018 Epcot Food and Wine Festival?
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