With Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival recently wrapping up I thought it might be fun to recap some of the things I enjoyed there this year, what I’d like to see next year and what could maybe be left off the list!

My husband and I visited Epcot as soon as the World Showcase opened on a rainy Tuesday. I cannot recommend this specific combination enough! I know we can’t control the rainy part 😉 but a Tuesday around 11am is a great time to start enjoying the Food & Wine Festival. We were so lucky and didn’t wait in a single line for food or drink the entire afternoon. This was definitely not the case on our last visit to Food & Wine on a Friday evening in 2013!

Our first stop was the Craft Beer building. My husband chose the Beer Flight 2: Goose Island, 312 Urban Wheat Ale; Florida Beer Company, Sunshine State Pilsner; Magic Hat Brewery, Dream Machine IPL; and Terrapin Beer Company, Rye Pale Ale for a cost of $10.25. This flight also came with a complementary snack mix. He was very pleased! As more of a beer fan than a wine drinker the opportunity to taste so many different beers was a real draw to this festival for him. So if you have a beer drinker don’t let the name Food & Wine deter them. Plenty of beer to be had as well!

Next stop was Mexico for the Rib Eye Taco with marinated rib eye, roasted chipotle sauce and grilled scallions on a corn tortilla. This was so good! And it would have paired perfectly with the tequila flight or the Mango Strawberry Margarita also offered at the Mexico booth. Unfortunately I did not get to try either, but the Rib Eye Taco was great all on its own!

Next up for me was Germany. I knew I wanted to try the Roast Bratwurst on a pretzel roll from the minute I started looking at menus. It did not disappoint! The pretzel roll was a perfect home for the bratwurst.

My husband opted to skip Germany in favor of Poland for the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi with caramelized onions and sour cream. I don’t think I ever got a direct quote on the quality of the snack but judging from the sounds he made while eating it… it was a hit!

Japan was our next stop! My husband remembered the Teriyaki Gyoza Bun (a Steamed bun filled with chicken, vegetables and sweet teriyaki sauce) from our visit to the Food & Wine Festival two years prior and knew he had to get it. I’m not as big of a fan as he is, preferring the chicken pot stickers from China instead.

Another stand I skipped was Morocco. My husband did get the Kefta pocket, which is Ground seasoned beef in a pita pocket but I think this wasn’t his favorite treat either.

I personally was saving my appetite for Belgium! Another Food & Wine classic that I could enjoy year after year was the Belgian waffle with warm chocolate ganache and whipped cream. YUM! If they ever decide to do away with this treat at the festival I will be very sad!

Our final stop for this visit was Hawaii for the Kālua Pork Slider with sweet-and-sour Dole® pineapple chutney and spicy mayonnaise. This is a fan favorite and rightly so. It is a do not skip booth for both my husband and I. In fact, we each got our own pork sliders here, something we rarely do at the festival! Well worth it though.

All in all our time at the festival was a smash hit. The only complaint I have is the same one I’ve had every year in the past and will have every year in the future: not enough room in my stomach for all the delicious treats! I’m very happy with the semi-recent additions of food booths to the Flower & Garden Festival and seasonal food booths during the holidays at Epcot. More opportunities to try different cuisines of the world sounds good to me!

Did you visit the Food & Wine Festival this year? What was your favorite item?