2019 Best of Epcot Food & Wine – Vegetarian Style
On a recent visit to the 2019 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, I had a lot of fun scouting out the best vegetarian dishes. Thanks to our annual passes and super cheap flights on Southwest, it’s totally affordable to visit for just a short weekend. My daughter is technically a pescatarian, so I did eat quite a bit of seafood, but I also checked out many of the vegetarian options. Luckily for me, there were more great choices than I could indulge in!
One of the things I love about the Food & Wine Festival is how easy Disney makes it to find dishes that fit your eating style. The booklet has little symbols next to every dish that is Gluten Free or Vegetarian. There are THIRTY options at the festival this year with the vegetarian symbol! You’ll also find a little symbol for “kid-friendly” dishes. It’s such a fun way to try lots of different things, and definitely a highlight of the year for foodies!
I grabbed my booklet and started my adventure. This year, instead of starting in Mexico or Canada, I noticed there were a number of booths that appeared before the World Showcase. The first one I tried was at Earth Eats. Both of the dishes are vegetarian, although the Impossible Cottage pie contains Almond milk in the topping, so it was off our list (I have a severe tree nut allergy which makes this all a bit more challenging). It was a super humid day so I passed on the Impossible slider and opted for a flight of Kombucha. This was an excellent choice and a fun way for my teen to feel like she could enjoy a special drink!
Insider tip: If you have a severe allergy as I do, when you stop at the first booth, ask for a Disney chef to come out and walk you through the options. They are super accommodating and can let you know what is safe for you to eat at most of the booths. A few of them aren’t operated by Disney, so at those, you’ll have to ask individually. It’s so comforting to have my own special booklet with everything that is safe for me to eat marked!
The next stop was Coastal Eats and the Lumb Crab Cake was amazing. Although not vegetarian, it was an excellent choice for seafood eaters.
Moving on to the Wine & Dine Studio, we decided upon the Artist Palette of Wine and Cheese. Both of us loved the cheeses and I enjoyed two of the three wines. This was a definite winner and one we’ll get again next time we visit.
Entering the World Showcase, we chose to go right towards Canada and stopped first at the Australia booth. There we found our current festival favorite, the Deconstructed Pavlova. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so delicious! We liked it so much we ended up ordering it three times over the course of the weekend. It was light, a little bit sweet with plenty of fresh fruit. Truly a perfect simple dessert.
Another favorite vegetarian option is the Pao de Queijo (or Brazilian Cheese Bread) in Brazil. It comes with two pieces of bread so it’s perfect to share.
We were pretty full already so skipped quite a few countries to get to Hops & Barley. There we enjoyed another pescatarian option, the New England Lobster Roll. Although on the expensive side, it was delicious and filling. So much so that we ended up skipping the bread and just eating up the lobster.
Insider Tip: This year, there is a fun new challenge in the back of the booklet called Emile’s Fromage Montage. Try any five of the participating menu items (and you don’t have to try them all, you could get a few of them multiple times, just five total) and you can get a FREE Fromage Montage Cheesecake at Shimmering Sips! We didn’t get to all five on this trip, but will easily finish it out next month.
Although I tried quite a few other vegetarian and seafood options, these were by far the favorites. I suspect we’ll be getting them all again when we return in October. I’ll also try some of the non-vegetarian options at that time since I’ll have my steak loving son with me!
Insider Tip: If you would like some help planning your next Disney vacation, I’d love to help you! Just head over to my Magical Vacation Planner website and let me know!
What is your favorite dish at the Food & Wine Festival? Share in the comments and if it’s nut-free I’ll be sure to try it on my next visit.
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