The Epcot International Food & Wine Festival has officially started! This year the festival runs from August 29th until November 23rd. This festival takes over World Showcase and is included in your ticket to the park. During the festival there are tons of booths around the World that offer snack sized portions of food and specialty drinks.
Let’s get into the vegan options this year! (Scroll to the bottom to see our guide, which is ready to print!)
Africa
*NEW* Spicy Kenyan Vegan Githeri with White Beans, Pigeon Peas, Curry Rice Pilaf and Kachumbari Slaw (Vegan)
Although we loved the previous option at this booth, we were pumped that they replaced it with another vegan option. The new option was pretty impressive! It was spicy, so if you’re not a heat person stay clear of these. The bean mix reminded us of a chili and the slaw helped with the heat. The texture of everything was really nice in this dish. When it’s not a million degrees anymore we’ll probably get this guy again.
Active Eats
*NEW* Fruit and Nut Energy Snack: House-made mixture of Apricots, Almonds, Pecans, Coconut, Puffed Rice and Chocolate Chips (Vegan)
This option was a little weird compared to the rest of the options during the festival. It would pair well with a morning coffee but otherwise it just felt off. It came refrigerated and quickly started melting today. This seems like a one and done for us. Also we realized after we took photos that the other side looked much better with a drizzle that was already melting.
Earth Eats
The IMPOSSIBLE Burger Slider with Wasabi Cream and Spicy Asian Slaw on a Sesame Seed Bun (Vegan)
We were so stoked that this option was returning this year. We ate so many of these last year during the festival. This is a great way for people to try the Impossible burger without committing to a huge burger and a lot of money. For the first burger of the festival it wasn’t great. But that’s how we felt last year and it improved over time. The burger itself was cooked well, but there was a huge lack of wasabi cream which left it very dry with the large amount of bun.
Also to note, when we spoke with the chefs in the morning, they did note a possible cross contamination due to the bun, so if you have a severe dairy allergy be aware!
*NEW * IMPOSSIBLE™ Cottage Pie: IMPOSSIBLE™ Ground Meat with Carrots, Mushrooms, and Peas topped with Mashed Cauliflower, White Beans, and Mozzarella (Vegan)
This option is new this year and is vegan as is too! While this was a little rough to eat in direct sunlight today, it was really good. The bottom was full of Impossible meat and the vegan cheese on top got caramelized and crunchy. I couldn’t even tell it was a cauliflower mash. We will absolutely get this again (again, when it’s not a million degrees out).
*NEW* Suja® organic kombucha green apple, Suja® organic kombucha pineapple passionfruit, Suja® organic kombucha mixed berry (Vegan)
Last year at this same booth they had Health-Ade Kombucha, this year they changed it up and have Suja! We decided to get the flight so we could easily try all three flavors. They honestly all tasted the same to me. But I like Kombucha so I didn’t mind, I just don’t have a specific flavor to recommend.
India
Madras Red Curry with Roasted Cauliflower, Baby Carrots, Chickpeas and Uncle Ben’s® Basmati Rice (Vegan) (GF)
This option has stuck around for the last few years and last year I skipped getting it since it wasn’t a favorite for me. I decided to give it another shot this year, and uh, it still isn’t my favorite. The curry is just super bland, it doesn’t have any flavor other than tomato. The rice was also on the verge of not being cooked all the way. I won’t be getting this again.
Morrocco
Hummus Fries with Cucumber, Tomato, Onions and Tzatziki Sauce (Modify by ordering without tzatiki)
This is always a favorite, even though you can get them all the time from Spice Road Table. They definitely have a heat to them, and removing the non vegan tzatziki sauce doesn’t help with that. This time they offered me the cucumber and tomato mix on it. These are cooked in a shared fryer.
UPDATE – We were informed that we may have been fed incorrect information. We went to the festival again this morning (8/30) and spoke with three employees (cashier, manager, line cook) who all said it was safe. We ended up speaking with an actual chef who told us it contains yogurt this year when in years pass it was vegan. We informed them that they need to let the booth employees know because this is unacceptable to be fed incorrect information that could have severely hurt one of our followers with allergies.
Refreshment Port
Pineapple Soft-Serve ice Cream (Dole), with or without coconut rum (Vegan)
Another long time festival staple, the Pineapple Dole Whip! Here you can get it two ways, plain soft serve or with Coconut Rum. We usually go for the coconut rum but today went just plain. During the festivals in Epcot is the only time you can get Dole whips here.
Shimmering Sips Mimosa Bar
Banana Almond Soft-serve Sundae with Fresh Berries and Chocolate Almond Streusel (Modify by ordering without Streusel)
Returning this year, but in a new booth name, is the Banana Almond Soft-Serve Sundae. This is a great treat for a hot day. We were originally told by a chef this morning that the streusel was safe this year, but we double checked at the booth and were told it contains egg. So go ahead and get this without the topping.
While there may be some other options that you can modify this year, we only look for the vegan as is/easily vegan already vegetarian options when at the festivals. We would rather put our money into vegetarian options to raise demand for those rather than remove meat from dishes and pay the same to eat some sides. There may be other options that can be vegan during the festival, but we like to make the most of our money and vote with our wallet.
When we first got to the festival I sought out a chef to confirm some of my suspicions for the vegan options. I want to send a huge shoutout to Chef Dee who we ran into multiple times after our first meeting. She was super knowledgable and a delight to talk to. Thanks Chef Dee!
What a bummer, the selections seem super limited and unappetizing. I was hoping they’d have a bit more imagination 😔
My husband and I are having date night at Epcot tonight. Thanks for finding out the tasty vegan stuff for us in advance 🙂
This is our second year attending the festival as vegans, and your research and information here is super helpful! Thanks for doing all the legwork!
Happy to help!
Hi, I was just at the Food & Wine fest this saturday (Sept 7th) and I asked about the Red Curry in India, two of the employees said it was not vegan, but they didnt provide details as to why it wasnt. i couldnt tell what made it not vegan, but i avoided it anyway just to be sure.
Interesting. We’ve always been told it was vegan. Did you speak with someone in the booth or a chef with a white jacket, black buttons and an epcot logo? The ones in the booth are pretty unaware of what they’re actually serving. We’ll look into this.
It was just the kids working the booth not a chef but they said it wasnt so i decided not to chance it
Totally understand. Well look into it!