This review reflects our experience from October 2017.
It’s been two years since we’ve been to Food & Wine at Epcot. We were really looking forward to it this year with a few items returning that we missed last year and it did not disappoint! This year there were several options including desserts. The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival runs until November 13th. During this time, World Showcase is lined with tons various countries and other sponsored booths. Each booth features 3 or 4 food items and several drink options that are unique to each location. A few years ago there was a 100% vegan booth, since then it has been removed, but several vegan options can be found around the festival. We didn’t try everything, but we did enjoy what we had.
Our first stop was to Greece to finally try the Loaded Greek “Nachos” which was returning from last year.
The Loaded Greek “Nachos” are nachos made with pita chips, vegan sausage crumbles, lettuce, tomato, onion, olives, tofu feta and a vegan tzatziki sauce. This whole dish is vegan with no modifications.
Our first try with this dish was great. We both loved it. We ended up coming back for it 4 times during our trip. We LOVED IT. The tofu feta is a great texture, the vegan sausage crumbles were flavorful, everything in this dish mixed so well. The tzatziki sauce made everything creamy and delicious. 10/10 would eat again next year.
Next we stopped in India to try the Madras Red Curry which included basmati rice, baby carrot, cauliflower, and chickpeas.
We had seen photos of others and they looked dry, mine on the other hand was swimming in curry. It had a good heat to it, tasted like something we’d make at home. It was pretty good, nothing to go back for though. The cauliflower wasn’t overcooked, which was something I was afraid of. As a whole this dish was pretty tasty, just not awesome.
Our only other stop on our trip was to Africa where they have a Spicy Ethiopian Red Lentil Stew with Vegan Yogurt and Quinoa.
Neither of us were that excited about this dish, but we were both pleasantly surprised. We both really loved this, the vegan yogurt added a nice tartness to cool down the relatively spicy dish. The lentils and quinoa had a good texture, not too mushy. We were both happy to have two dishes with some heat as it often seems like Disney downplays spices in their foods. We would have gotten this dish again, but opted to keep getting Greek “Nachos” instead.
There were a few other options with vegan items, one being the Almond Orchard presented by Almond Breeze with a Banana Almond Soft-Serve Sundae which is vegan without the crunchy chocolate oats. I didn’t get this because our son has a sensitivity to bananas, Corey wasn’t feeling it so he didn’t try it. They also had another dish that appeared to be vegan but the almonds they use in it contain milk, so stay away from the Fire-Roasted Tomato Hummus.
We had a great time at Food & Wine, we went a few times to just get Greek “Nachos” and didn’t hit all the booths in one day. The weekends tend to be busier because of locals, so if you’re there on vacation we recommend heading to Food & Wine during weekdays to avoid crowds.
Keep requesting vegan items and be sure to speak with cast members if you find yourself in an excellent or even a frustrating situation, this is the only way we can keep these awesome options going! Always remember you can let Disney know by writing to Special Diets, that goes for all Disney dining, not just Food & Wine. (Special.Diets@DisneyWorld.com)
For more options check out our post here, or save this photo to your phone for a quick reference guide while in Epcot.
Yum! It’s great the vegan nachos were at the top of the Greek menu, not a squirreled away secret menu item. I hope the Art festival is as good when I go in Febuary.