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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All of the food looks so good! I’ll take the lump crab cake & wine and cheese plate 🙂 Ha!
Perfect dinner in my book!
This looks amazing! You have inspired me to go back to Disney. I have not been there in years.
Go during a festival – it makes Epcot so much fun!!!
It would be so nice to have an annual pass to be able to attend all of the fun festivals! I love seafood, so the crab and lobster dishes would be on my list. And that dessert looks so light and yummy!
Oh yeah, you got some of my favorites too!! Love the Brazilian cheese bread!! I cannot wait to try the Deconstructed Pavlova!
My daughter and I are counting the days til we can enjoy it again!
I’m glad they had a special vegetarian and GF symbols. Would love to know how many were GF. We loved doing festivals like this but it is difficult when my older daughter has celiac. However, I wholeheartedly agree with you on Disney being great with allergies. We did a princess dinner with her when she was little and her plates of food were spectacular! So fancy that the man at the next table looked at me and asked why she had such a fancy dessert. I just told him she had food allergies. It was the first time she’s ever had MORE because she had a food allergy. It really made the whole experience. Disney is great that way.
Leanne, I counted 12 items in the book that are GF. It’s so hard to enjoy festivals like this with an allergy. Disney is so good at this – they’ve done that for me before too – the kids always tell me that they wish they had an allergy when we are at Disney! They make you feel special instead of a pain.
I am SO excited to head to EPCOT before the end of the Food and Wine Festival. It is our favorite time to go because we can sample so many delicious dishes from all over the world!
I agree! So glad you are going to get to enjoy it!
Food and Wine Festival is amazing! There is really something for everyone! I wish I had a season pass and could go more often!
We are really enjoying our annual pass – it’s going to be a tough decision come the end of the year if we renew or not!
All of the food looks so good. I’m all about that crab cake and…that lobster roll – how could you pass up the bread?
I do love bread, but we were getting so full it was a matter of priorities!
Everything looks so good…I would have to try them all…so cool that the chef will work with guests who may have food allergies. Disney is all about the guest experience.
Food and Wine is my favorite festival. I was able to sample a few things over Labor Day, but I have my annual girls’ trip in Norwood where we eat all the food and drink all the drinks. LOL. I love the booths just outside of World Showcase, they have some neat things. That little book is my Bible when I am there. In addition, once the menus are released my friends and I text each other with things on our list we can’t miss. My old standby is the soup from Canada. I love that. I also love the Bailey’s Irish shake in Ireland. OMG.. so good!
I like that Disney is so accommodating for folks whonare not able to eat all of the foods that are available. They do not make people feel bad about it either.
It is so nice! It’s one of the few places I feel very comfortable eating!
I do love that soup from Canada too, but since it has bacon in it we skipped it this trip. Luckily we are heading back in October, so we’ll enjoy it then!
I would try all of them. I liked that if someone has a severe allergy that the Disney chef to come out and walk you through the options.
It is so comforting – there are so many times I just won’t try something because I don’t trust that it’s safe. At Disney, once I’ve talked to the chef, I feel confident they take it seriously.
I love F&W festival! I just love the atmosphere. I’m not one for experimenting with new foods. But maybe one day I’ll give it try. For now I’ll stick with walking around and watching the concerts.
The concerts are GREAT, aren’t they? I think that’s such a great bonus.
As a foodie, I’d love to do this. The “fromage montage” sounds fun and delicious! I’ll have to checkout the passport next time, thanks!
It’s so much fun! As a family, we all love trying new things and the little bites are perfect – you can try so much more!