It’s time for another festival at EPCOT! This is my favorite one of the year, the EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival. This year the festival runs from March 2nd to July 4th, so you have plenty of time to see the stunning topiaries and eat all the vegan options.
This year the Garden Graze is all vegan again too, which means we have a vegan treat for when you complete the graze again! There have been some returning dishes, new dishes, and dishes that have swapped locations, so let’s get into it!
Sunshine Griddle – Located near Test Track
The vegan option here is the Avocado Toast. This year the option is vegan as is (if you recall last year this required a few modifications). The Avocado Toast is part of the Garden Graze tour as well, so be sure to get your stamp here! The Garden Graze options have a little strawberry logo next to the name of the dish.
This year the toast is huge! And the best part is, we get to enjoy it actually toasted now!! The avocado toast was one of my favorite dishes this year. The avocado had a great creamy texture as well as chunks of avocado in it. There was a good lemon flavor to it avocado spread too. The tomatoes added a nice texture as well. Plus you can’t go wrong with toasted ciabatta bread.
Flavor Full Kitchen – Between World Showcase and Journey Into Imagination
This year they swapped the dish that was originally here with another booth. So if you’re on the hunt for the Grilled Street Corn on the Cob this is now where you’ll find it.
The corn finally comes on a plate, which is so needed. The toppings definitely vary depending on the corn you get. I was watching other corn cobs be made and they were covered in the crunchies and garlic sauce, while others lacked both.
The corn was cooked well and the garlic sauce was creamy and a strong flavor. The crunchies on it were also good, but I could have done without them all together. The texture was a bit intense compared to the soft corn.
I did also pick up the Blood Orange Agua Fresca from here. It sounded good and it was! The blood orange flavor was strong and it was very sweet without being artificially sweet tasting. It was a perfect thirst quencher for a hot trek around EPCOT.
Refreshment Port – Near Canada
This is another returning dish, the House-Made Sausage and Peppers Poutine. This was one of my favorites last year, and it’s still in my top picks.
The cheese sauce definitely seemed different this year. It was more of that weird fake cheese taste, I don’t really know how to explain it. But the more I ate it (the further down) it was fine. The sausage is still delicious and requires a fork to enjoy as it’s usually a big ole clump.
The sausage had a good heat to it, so if you aren’t a spicy food eater I would skip the sausage part of this. I’m glad that I still loved this. It’s a french fry version of the vegan mac and cheese during Food and Wine.
Pineapple Promenade – Near Canada
Returning this year is the Dole Whip from Pineapple Promenade. I opted to skip this today as it’s just a dole whip and I had way more to eat. Additionally, this is where you complete the Garden Graze tour to get your completer treat, which is a Dole Whip. Be sure to order it without the non-vegan white chocolate piece they put on it.
Trowel & Trellis sponsored by Impossible – Near Mexico
This whole booth is vegan, hooray! This is where you’ll find the dish that used to be at Flavor Full Kitchen, the Grilled Baby Vegetables. This dish this year was not good.
My vegetables were all basically raw, unseasoned, and the hummus cream was flavorless. There was the smallest amount of the Red Pepper Coulis so that added nothing. I was really disappointed in this dish as it was usually a nice light refreshing option.
Next up is the Impossible Sausage and Kale Soup. Let me tell you, who doesn’t love a hot and hearty soup in the Florida heat. (Me, I don’t).
Last year this was actually more of a soup, this year I would say it was more of a stew. The only bites I found were of potatoes. The only flavor I got out of my soup was salt, so hopefully it was just a bad batch. If this was offered as a meal or starter in a nice air conditioned restaurant I would probably prefer it.
The Boneless Impossible Korean Short Rib have also made a return this year. This was definitely better than last year for me.
My favorite part of this dish is still the Danmuji Slaw, I love the tangy vegetables with the rice. The “short ribs” are basically a square burger or meatloaf to me. I would recommend asking for more of the Kimchee Mayonnaise because it is delicious and needed for how much plain rice you get.
We got a new dessert at this booth this year, Chocolate Cake. This chocolate cake features a mousse and raspberry gelato. Our favorite part of this was the gelato. The cake itself was fine, but a little on the dry side. The mousse and fresh raspberries helped, but it could use an icing for me.
Jardin de Fiestas – Mexico
I don’t think this one counts as a returning option even though it kind of is. Last year we had a vegan option at this booth, this year we have one if you modify. The Tostada de Chorizo is vegan when you omit the queso fresco.
This year it is a corn tortilla topped with refried style black beans, vegan chorizo, and an avocado mousse. This was really good and I actually preferred the crunchy corn tortilla over last years sopa. This was a nice light option and had lots of flavors between the beans and avocado. The chorizo didn’t have any heat to it either, which is good for those of you who don’t like spicy.
Refreshment Outpost – Africa
A returning option can be found at the Refreshment Outpost, the Pineapple Skewer. I opted to skip this one today as it’s literally just a pineapple skewer with tajin on it. While nice and light and refreshing on a hot day, I had a lot of food to eat and wasn’t going to waste stomach space on this. This is part of the Garden Graze tour, but you can always get something else twice to complete the tour and skip this if you aren’t a fan either.
Bauernmarkt – Germany
Another returning vegan option, the Potato Pancakes. These are always one of my favorites so I am always happy when they return. This year they are going hard with the applesauce.
You still get two pancakes and one large helping of applesauce. The pancakes had a great texture and have some chunks of onion in them. The pancakes were crispy one one side and cooked fresh to order. My only complaint is that the pancakes were very warm and the applesauce was very cold, which wasn’t the best mix.
La Isla Fresca – Between Morocco and France
Last vegan option was my absolute favorite of the day, the Coconut Tres Leches. This was my first tres leches experience and it did not disappoint!
The vanilla cake was a great texture and soaked up the milks in the dish; which are oat, almond, and coconut. The vanilla frosting was creamy and perfectly sweet. The dish was topped with crunchy toasted coconut and everything worked so well together. This is absolutely a dish I will be enjoying in EPCOT again soon.
So in total we have 12 vegan options this year for the festival. There is truly something for everyone at the festival this year too. And the best part is that it’s not a bunch of spicy options like at Food & Wine!
The vegan options are easy to find this year as everything (aside from the tostada) is listed on the passport with the plant based logo. So be sure to try them all! Let me know what your favorite was and be sure to tag us on Instagram with what you get!
