The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival has officially started and runs this year from July 27th to November 18th. This year they changed things up a bit and we no longer have Earth Eats, the all vegan booth, and instead they have spread out the Impossible products throughout the festival booths.
So to start real quick, do yourself a favor and screenshot this quick list for while you visit EPCOT. Then we’ll dive into the reviews below.
Vegan Options at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival
| Shimmering Sips hosted by CORKCICLE (near Disney Traders) | Guava Cake with Whipped Cream and Coconut |
| Greece (near Morocco) | Plant-Based Impossible™ Moussaka |
| India (near China) | Potato and Pea Samosa with Coriander-Lime Cream |
| Refreshment Outpost | Spicy Githeri with White Beans, Pigeon Peas, Curried BEN’S ORIGINAL™ Long Grain & Wild Rice and Kachumbari Slaw |
| The Noodle Exchange – Available August 15, 2023 (near Mexico) | Ramen with Tofu, Shiitake Mushrooms, Pickled Carrots and Daikon Radish, Shaved Peppers and Baby Bok Choy in Citrus-Sesame Broth |
| Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey | Impossible™ Buffalo Chicken Tenders with Plant-Based Blue Cheese, Plant-Based Ranch and Celery |
| Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Buffalo Sauce, Plant-Based Blue Cheese and Plant-based Ranch | |
| Frozen Fusion: Twinings Pomegranate and Raspberry Herbal Tea fused with Orange Ice Cream Molecules (nonalcoholic) | |
| Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina (Morocco) | Falafel Pita with Tahini Sauce |
| Stone-baked Moroccan Bread with Hummus, Chermoula and Zhoug Dips | |
| Flavors from Fire (near playground by Test Track) | The Impossible™ Burger Slider with Wasabi Cream and Spicy Slaw on a Sesame Seed Bun |
| The Fry Basket (near Test Track) | Adobo Yuca Fries with Garlic-Cilantro Aïoli |
| Fry Flight; Only the Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar Fries | |
Let’s start with a star of the show, and our only dessert, the Guava Cake from Shimmering Sips. This is basically just a guava version of the Tres Leches cake during Flower and Garden and I am not mad about this at all! Last year the guava mousse was really good but then they had supply issues and changed it mid festival and it was… not good anymore. So I am happy that they revamped the concept completely and just changed up an option we all already loved.
The cake has a nice texture to it and is wet like the tres leches. The guava flavor is the perfect summer sweetness. It has a ton of whipped cream on it, some sort of guava gel, and then crispy coconut flakes on top. This was the perfect way to end our tour around EPCOT trying all the vegan options. I will be getting this cake with each visit until this festival ends.
We have a new version of a very old item, I looked in my archives it was 2015, but we have a new Plant-based Impossible Moussaka at the Greece booth! I was hyped for a Greece booth to return hoping we’d get a new version of the Greek nachos, but instead they gave us another makeover item.
A moussaka is like a shepherds pie, but also very much not. The top is a béchamel then under you find the Impossible meat, potatoes, and eggplant. The flavors were good with this, the béchamel had a nutmeg flavor to it. Ours was super hot (temperature) and it was also sweltering outside, so it wasn’t the ideal time to try it. I had several bites of it that were very meh and some that were very good, so I think it just depends on where in the moussaka you are. I didn’t love it at the time, but I would give it another shot, probably in the evening.
A returning favorite can be found at the India booth, the Potato and Pea Samosa. These come with a creamy and delicious coriander-lime cream. You get two big samosas and they are filled with potatoes and peas and pack some heat too! These were one of my favorites from last year so I was so excited to see them return. They were really on point with all the vegan sauces this year.
At Refreshment Outpost you will find another returning option, the Spicy Githeri. Once again, I don’t know why they call this spicy as it isn’t at all. I ate this with the samosas (as they’re next to each other) and the samosas had more heat than this did.
I am usually pretty indifferent on this dish. The bean part is similar to chili which is fine. The rice on ours was incredibly undercooked and hurt out teeth. I know that is probably just a bad plate and not the case all the time, but the flavors were very muted and it was overall just an okay option. I love that they have a faux meat free option with beans, but it’s not a favorite for me.
Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey is SO CUTE this year and is inspired by the Muppets. We have a returning option as well as a new option for 2023! There is tons of seating in here (yes, in AC!), and lots of standing tables too.
Returning this year is the Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Buffalo Sauce. The ones I ate were very overcooked and not crispy at all, but I am hoping it was just that batch and they’ll be better next time. There was plenty of buffalo sauce with them, they were also topped with vegan blue cheese crumbles and vegan ranch drizzle. The flavors for this were excellent, I just wish the texture had been better.
New this year is the Impossible™ Buffalo Chicken Tenders. These are the same as the ones you can buy from the grocery store, tossed in the same buffalo sauce as the sprouts, topped with vegan blue cheese and vegan ranch, plus you get one single stalk of celery. These were delicious and very enjoyable with the buffalo sauce. I really hope we start to see some more of the Impossible chicken products in the parks now!
There is also a drink here that is vegan called the Frozen Fusion. I checked with a coordinator to see the ingredients for the Ice Cream Molecules and they are completely vegan, however I recommend you ask if you plan to get this as things can change! The raspberry and pomegranate tea had a nice mix of sweet and tart. It was a real treat for a hot day!
Over in Morocco you can find the old quick service turned festival stop, Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina. Here you will find a returning option and another returning but changed to be vegan option.
The Falafel Pita was not something I liked last year, but they really did improve it this year. Last year the falafel was more like a hush puppy, this year it was more like the falafel from Skipper Canteen. It was loaded with delicious creamy tahini sauce. I just wish they didn’t stuff all the lettuce and tomatoes at the bottom so I could get it all in one bite.
The Stone-baked Moroccan Bread with Hummus, Chermoula and Zhoug Dips was modified to now be vegan as is, which is great. The bread was firm and held the dips well. The hummus was a basic plain hummus, so nothing special. The chermoula was heavy with garlic and very good. I was hoping for some heat from the Zhoug dip but there wasn’t any. Overall this was enjoyable but if I just picked one I would get the falafel pita.
Flavors from Fire is not a booth I ever expected to visit, but it is where you will find the The Impossible™ Burger Slider now that Earth Eats is no more. The burger is the same as previous years with a sesame seed bun, wasabi cream, and slaw.
The burger was cooked really well, the bun wasn’t dry, and there was a nice little heat to it. I will ask for extra wasabi cream next time as it’s just a nice low heat and adds a delicious sauce to it. They did make this when I ordered, so they weren’t just sitting out getting dry like previous years, so this was probably the best slider I’ve ever had from this festival.
The Fry Basket, which is right by Flavors from Fire, is home to two-ish options. These are returning options as well. I say ‘ish’ because one of the options is part of a flight with non vegan options. The Fry Flight contains a Sea Salt and Malt Vinegar Fries which are vegan, the other two on the flight aren’t vegan but can be modified if you ask.
The Adobo Yuca Fries are vegan as is and feature yuca with a garlic-cilantro aïoli. These were so incredibly salty we could barely eat them. Out of the 5 yuca fries we got, only one wasn’t absolutely covered in the seasoning which was 99% salt. The aïoli on it was so good so I am super sad that they were too salty to eat because these would have been a favorite. I have heard from others that it was salty so I don’t think this was a “just a bad dish” scenario and I hope they pull back on some of the seasoning.
In a couple weeks we’ll have another option at the Noodle Exchange which I will add to this once I try it. There are some other booths opening in September so if they add an option I will be sure to add it here too. If you’re curious about drinks I recommend checking Barnivore for what may be vegan.
The festival runs until mid November so you have plenty of time to try the vegan options. I would love to hear what options you liked!
