"For the Love of Food and Wine"
Monday, September 26, 2011 at 10:38PM By: Kevin Quigley
My friends Brad and Kay raved about the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival on my first trip to Walt Disney World five years ago, in 2007. I dismissed the idea out of hand. I wasn’t a foodie – fancy eating back then meant making grilled cheese with something other than pre-sliced, pre-wrapped cheese “food” product – and wine just isn’t my thing. Brad and Kay also tried to get me excited about Cirque du Soleil, and I was all, thanks but I’m good on the whole flying French clown thing.
Five years later, I take umbrage at folks who dis Cirque du Soleil without seeing it, because you have no idea how awesome, seriously. And while I wouldn’t exactly call myself a foodie, I did kind of learn how to cook because Ratatouille told me I could. The Disney influence is strong in our house. Like most of my early perceptions of what I would and wouldn’t like at Walt Disney World (I assumed I wouldn’t like Fantasmic! or the Country Bears Jamboree, which borders on lunacy), I was dead wrong about the Food and Wine Festival. What I didn’t know was that you didn’t have to be a foodie to love it; all you had to be, really, was hungry. This was one of those caveats I felt I could live with.
To kick off autumn each year – usually between late September and early November – the Food and Wine Festival takes over World Showcase, serving up regional food in kiosks from around the world. And not country regional, either, none of this just France or just Thailand; we’re talking food from Paris and Bangkok. There’s also usually a unique selection from the USA, which serves as an exciting alternative to the Liberty Inn’s basic American fare, as well as a compelling argument for a broader menu there. (Do we really need standard burgers and hot dogs in the most exciting culinary region of Walt Disney World?)
The very first thing I learned about Food and Wine was that, as with most undertakings at the World, it helps to devise a plan first. I was taking on the Festival with my good buddy Joe, and, this being a first for both of us, we grabbed a table at Club Cool (and a couple of sample-size cups of Brazilian watermelon soda), spread out our Festival Map, and plotted our course. We circled the kiosks that seemed most appealing, then initialed the ones we individually were most interested; we had foolishly made sit-down dining reservations that night, and we wanted to hit the highlights without filling up too much. Something to know: during Food and Wine Fest, you never have to make dining reservations. Nothing costs all that much and you get these individual sampler plates, and you think oh, I’m just snacking. By the time you get to the Norway area of World Showcase and you’ve downed a cheese plate or seven and you’ve chomped down like six Xingjiang barbecue chicken sticks and washed it all down with what has to be the best mango lassi in the entire universe, suddenly the only thing you want at the Biergarten is the sweet, sweet sounds of the oompah band.
The highlights of our first trip: chicken and coconut soup with mushrooms, lemongrass, and ginger in Bangkok, hitting all the right notes. Thick, but not heavy; sweet, but not cloying. In Paris, we fell in love with the head chef calling out the various orders. Not only did she serve us milk chocolate crème brulee (only very rarely has a food been so delicious that it tested my very sanity), but she never just said “escargot”; it was always “Es-car-GOOOOO!” Serving snails to tourists was her mission in life, and she made sure you knew it. In Canada, Joe got the cheddar cheese soup and I got the chicken sausage … both delicious on their own, but when you combined them, they were divine.
Joe and I had wandered by the Melbourne, Australia kiosk the night before and the smell of lamb wafted past us, enticing us, living in our carnivorous fever-dreams of eating. Now, we attacked that lamb as if it had embezzled our 401(k)s. It was as if I had never eaten lamb before, as if I wasn’t already stuffed with food up to my esophagus. We devoured that lamb, and then went back for seconds. The grilled lamb chop returned to Food and Wine in 2010, and happily, so did Joe and I.
Actually, quite a bit of our favorites were back the following year (especially the crème brulee au chocolate au lait, booyaw), but there was plenty new to keep us going round and round again. We’d learned our lessons the year before and made Food and Wine our eating destination, not just a backdrop. The first thing I noticed about Food & Wine this year was that the specificity of the locations had vanished; we were back to countries, not cities. Actually, the first thing I noticed was the grilled pork skewer in Brazil. The words I later used to describe it were, “It’s as if happiness had physical properties and was made edible!” I’m a fan of hyperbole.
In 2010, we made it easier for ourselves and got wristband giftcards, because one of the smartest things you can do on a Disney vacation is set yourself an enforced spending limit. Put only so much on a gift card and you literally can’t spend more. Unless you add money to it. Which I did. Like three times. I’m bad at enforced spending limits.
This year marks Joe’s and my third go-round at Food and Wine, and this time we’re bringing our friends Marty and Paul. One of the most exciting things about any Disney vacation is introducing folks to something new, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to bring our two friends around for the very first time. Some of our old friends are back, too – the Australian lamb, the French crème brulee, that chicken and soup from Canada – but I’m most interested in the new flavors. Ropa vieja at the Carribbean kiosk. The cheese plate in Ireland (a perfect choice for Marty, as obsessed with cheese as I am with Horizons). The US selection this year is actually sort of exotic: Hawaiian pork sliders with pineapple chutney. Why can’t the Liberty Inn serve those all the time?
Last time I went to Disney World, the Magic Kingdom was the place to be. This time, we’re planning on making Epcot our home base. I mean, of course there’s IllumiNations and Spaceship Earth and Soarin’ … but this trip is all about gustatory delight, and I’m planning on leaving full every night.
Reader Comments (3)
Cheese is life! And every good mouse loves his cheese.
Great Work (as always) Kevin
This fella Kevin, he should be a writer...... yeah, yeah I know. nice article, nice humor, for even I enjoy the food and wine festival done disney style.