{recap} around the world in eight hours–epcot food and wine fest

Every fall as Labor Day passes and Halloween approaches another festive occasion also comes along….Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. I haven’t had the joy of attending in the last EIGHT years, way too long, and was super stoked when some of my co-workers scored some tickets. So, off we went…

You can get into Epcot at 9am, but the “world showcase”, where all the different countries are and all of the delicious food and drinks as well, doesn’t open until 11am. With empty growly stomaches we stopped at the first country that came our way…Mexico.

I kicked off the eating with this shrimp taco. And it did not disappoint. It was crispy and perfect with pico, habanero sauce and pickled onions. I wanted another on our second way around the world, but the line for tacos had become rather outrageous!

The next country to feel our wrath was Norway, and we stopped by the Farm Fresh food station that had local (I guess?) Florida provisions and libations. Being good Floridians, we got a little of everything…

I only had a bite or two of this bacon jalapeño hash with hollandaise so I can’t say too much about it, but the beer flight was pretty well laid out. All Florida beers with a little something for everyone. And they were decent sized cups.

Epcot’s Norway is small in size, so in no time at all we had made our way to China. We reveled in China for a while. Aside from finding an off the beaten path beer purveyor with no line, and maybe getting kicked out of their pavilion area for carrying said beers inside, we also ate the festival food. Dumplings!!!

Dumplings are kind of a thing between my friend Lynda and I. We both love them and have very stringent standards for dumplings, and these hit the spot. They were made with well-seasoned chicken and the wrapper was crunchy, chewy perfection.  The sauce that was served with them was the perfect balance–not too sweet, not too spicy. Well done Epcot, you make some tasty dumplings!

After venturing around and through Africa and playing around with all the toys in Japan, we arrived in the mother land…ITALY. It is was all pizza and prosecco here, and none of it missed the mark. The heat was wearing on our tender sensibilities, and so was the alcohol consumption.

We stopped in Germany to enjoy some bratwursts. They were so legit, on tiny pretzel buns! (Insert an “ask me about my wiener” comment here). And we were off to France for an abbreviated spree of croissant/ham and cheese baguette/champagne consumption that may or may not have resembled a feeding frenzy. We left the mainland of Europe for the United Kingdom where a drink at the Rose and Crown Pub is ALWAYS in order. Then it was on to Canada.

Things got a little dodgy in Canada. We maybe got in trouble in Canada. The movie Epcot shows in their Canada ISN’T THAT GOOD. Was it really necessary for some member of our group (cough cough, Cory) to sneak in?!? We followed that all up with popcorn and waters and started off on what was probably an ill-advised second spin “around the world”. There were churros, more dumplings, and eggrolls had by many. Not to mention beers and cocktails.

At the end of the day, the inevitable departure and return home to the little lady was bittersweet. The rest of our party went on to scream and freak out (Maria) at the Tower of Terror. And we fell asleep at 8:15. Thank you Epcot Food and Wine Fest (and Crystal and Lynda for procuring the tickets!) you were properly eventful, boozy, and delicious!

Until next time!