By We have come to the end of another wonderful season of the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, admittedly one of my favorite times of the year because it involves my two favorites things: food and booze.
Now, if I were a good blogger I would have taken the time to attend the festival and write about it BEFORE it ended, but as I have constantly established, I am not a good blogger.
I am, however, a fantastic eater. I love trying new things so Food & Wine is always a favorite because I am able to expand my horizons and drink a lot.
I have been attending Food & Wine annually for about 5 years now. Maybe 4.
Doesn’t matter.
My personal goal each year is to fill up my Food and Wine Passport with stamps from each booth in the World Showcase.
I have failed every single year.
Consistency is key people.
I will say this year is the closest I’ve ever gotten: out of the 40 passport stickers, I missed 19 of them. So half. Really not bad, all things considered.
Rather than bore ya’ll with the entire list of everything I ate (we’d be here for years) I’ll highlight some of my favorites from the festival.
I’m going to start off with my favorite drink from the festival and that was the Swine Brine from the Flavors of Fire booth.
This was definitely one of the more unique drinks from the event that you either loved or hated as it would turn out. I’ve been on a bourbon/whiskey kick lately so I was completely in love with it. This cocktail features Evan Williams Bourbon, apple cider, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and is topped off with a piggy wing. The addition of the piggy wing and Dijon mustard gives it a sweet and savory taste. It seems like an odd combination but I really enjoyed it. I ended up back in line for another one and it was the only thing I repeated during the run of the festival.
Sadly, like most of the cocktails, it was pre-mixed so I have no idea what the portions are on the drink but I’ve made it my mission to figure it out.
It was so damn good.
Food wise, I think the Charcuterie in a Cone from Spain was absolutely delicious. I think I would have enjoyed it more if the cone had been edible… I’m a fat kid though so I really just want everything to be edible.
Speaking of being a fat kid, I love cheese so there was a lot of that consumed this year. My favorite cheese-based options were Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese & Stour Dip (Ireland) and the Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup (Canada).
I would have to say that The Light Lab was a tad of a letdown for me. For some reason I had envisioned something along the lines of an intense late-80’s party with blacklights and glowing teeth everywhere… but this was all nowhere to be found.
Erica and I had been warned to split the glonut (donut) as it was pretty decent sized and this was some pretty solid advice. It wasn’t the size of one of those outrageous donuts that Universal sells, but pretty close. We also gave the Blue Spectrum drink a try (mine was without the Boba Balls because I hate having to chew things while I drink).
Both were good but, again, I expected a lot more glowing.
GLOW DAMN YOU GLOW!!!
A surprise hit for us was the Cauliflower Risotto from The Almond Orchard booth which featured pulled chicken, artichokes, spinach and parmesan cheese. I actually really enjoyed it and want to figure out how to make it.
All in all it was an enjoyable year at Food and Wine. Hopefully next year is the one where I can finish that damn passport!
Here’s a random photo of Chocolate Baklava and Mimosa Royale from Morocco.
Another highlight of the Food & Wine Festival is the Eat to the Beat Concert Series, which I manage to only catch one of every year because I am the worst. There was such a fantasic line-up this year but my schedule was the worst and I only caught the one.
Hanson.
Because why the hell not.
It was super exciting when they played the one song we knew… MmmBop.
Well, it was less exciting when Taylor Hanson decided to point out that the song was 21 years old which immediately made me feel old and in need of an alcoholic beverage.
All in all it was an enjoyable year at Food and Wine. Hopefully next year is the one where I can finish that damn passport!
Avoiding Neverland 