It’s officially after Thanksgiving which means it’s time for the Taste of Epcot International Festival of the Holidays! This festival runs this year from November 27th to December 30th. During this time Epcot transforms into a holiday wonderland, there are new outdoor kitchens, music, and more. One of the biggest changes this year is that there is no Candlelight Processional.
Let’s talk about food first. This year there are three plant-based options! Last year (and the year before) we were only given one option, which was a cookie. This year we have two savory options and one sweet one. Two of them can be found at the same booth.
L’CHAIM! Holiday Kitchen is located between France and Morocco. Here you can find Potato Latkes and a Black and White Cookie. Both of these are clearly labeled with the plant-based logo, which makes finding options so much easier this year.
The Potato Latkes were a big win for me. The latkes had some chunks of potatoes and onion in them, and had good texture throughout. They were topped with a vegan sour cream that had fresh herbs in it, which I believe was dill. I am so glad they brought these this year as the Potato Pancakes from the Flower & Garden Festival (which lasted about two weeks) were absolutely delicious.
The Black and White Cookie was mostly the same as last year. Mine was super thick, probably an inch thick in the middle, which made it a bit dry. It was a hefty cookie too.
It didn’t have as strong of a lemon flavor as last year. The chocolate icing reminds me a donut icing, which I enjoyed. The white side had a slight vanilla flavor but wasn’t very strong. I would get another cookie to try and see if I just had a weird thick one, or if that is supposed to be like that.
There is a Cookie Stroll again this year. You have five cookies that qualify for this, however if you decide to do it and eat the Black and White Cookie five times for your five, you end up getting a free cookie which is not vegan, the Complimentary Minnie Peppermint Cookie.
At the American Holiday Table, which is located in the America pavilion, there is a plant-based Holiday Pot Pie. I want to preface this on the fact that I do not like pot pies, never have. So getting this, and having to be the one to eat it, was tough for me.
The Holiday Pot Pie is filled with jackfruit, mushrooms, peas, carrots, and onions. It is topped with a puff pastry.
The only thing I liked was the puff pastry. The inside was very slimy and pretty much only tasted like sage with no real texture to it. I took two bites and threw it away.
In terms of vegan options on the menus that is it. I looked at the non-Disney owned booths to see if they had anything that seemed to be vegan, but everything had something with meat on it.
While we were at the festival we did catch some entertainment. Inside of the World Showplace pavilion, which is between UK and Canada, we got to enjoy a performance from Joyful.
Inside of the World Showplace pavilion was also a whole Gingerbread Capital City. This was neat to check out, and made me miss the big gingerbread houses in the resorts.
I also caught two of the cavalcades of characters. The first I saw was Santa Claus making his was around World Showcase. The second was Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, and Minnie. It was cute to see them in their holiday outfits.
Additionally they have overhauled Living with the Land with Christmas decor, we didn’t make it over to the ride in the evening to see it lit up. But hopefully we can enjoy it next time!
This year was definitely different, which is absolutely expected and appreciated. It felt good to see some holiday offerings and enjoy some entertainment as well. The lines for most of the booths were very long, so be prepared to wait for a while when ordering anything. People seem to really be complying to wearing masks and being sure to be stationary and off to the side when eating or drinking.
Watch our vlog from our trip to Epcot here!
