food IS a theme park
The Disney Parks Blog gave us a quick mini-look at some of this year’s 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival merchandise today!
Sneak Peek at Food and Wine Festival Merchandise
And there’s also a dedicated Vinylmation that’s been created just for the Festival!
We love the box [Read more…]
The 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival official website is finally starting to take shape!
Click to see larger image
You’ll see all of the colors and textures mentioned in our Food and Wine Festival Preview review. But it seems as though the content on the site is still from the 2010 Festival. We’ve been told that the site will be updated fully by [Read more…]
Can you have a festival without beer? I think not. At the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival, brews will be available in many locations. Get your thirst quenched at the Craft Beer Booth, Brewer’s Collection, and the Hops and Barley Marketplace. Many individual countries will also be serving up their own beer, and there will likely be beer seminars on the docket in the Festival Center.
That said, many beer enthusiasts are less than thrilled with the offerings at this year’s Festival, mentioning the lack of more obscure and unique craft beers. We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below!
Craft Beers will have their own booth at the 2011 Food and Wine Festival
Full Sail IPA
Sierra Nevada
Abita — Purple Haze
Red Hook Pilsner
Blue Moon
Leinenkugal
Key West Sunset Ale
Widmer Hefeweizen
We’re happy to share the great news that the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Booth Menus and the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Booth Map are now available!
Click to go to the Original PDF
As always, we have individual pages created for every single booth, including the menu and food photos of repeat items and even some brand new dishes!
Head over to our 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Booth Menus and Photos page and click on any country to see that region’s booth, menu, and even some food photos!! In the meantime, I’d love to share with you some of the brand new menu items at this year’s festival…
Craft Beers will have their own booth at the 2011 Food and Wine Festival
Coq au Vin with Macaroni Gratin in France
Beef Empanada in Argentina (replacing last year’s cheese and corn empanada)
Grilled Shrimp in Australia
Seared Mahi Mahi and Feijoada in Brazil
Three brand new desserts at the Desserts & Champagne Booth
Goulash Suppe in Germany
Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey in Greece
Cappellini con Gamberi Piccanti (Cappellini Pasta with Spicy Shrimp) in Italy
Pork Kakuni in Japan
Rib Eye Tacos in Mexico
Harissa Chicken Roll in Morocco
Bunny Chow (Vegetable Curry served in a Bread Loaf) in South Africa
and Boolgogi BBQ Beef with steamed Rice and Kimchi in South Korea
Don’t forget to check out the menu items from the ALL NEW booths: Hawaii, Portugal, the Caribbean, and Scandinavia!
Bunny Chow will be a new menu item in South Africa this year
We hope you’ll take time to click through each individual booth page to check out what the booth will look like, what’s on the menu, and what some of the food items look like!
Also, don’t forget to check out our other 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Coverage; we work hard to make sure we have the most comprehensive coverage of the festival on the internet!
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Booth Menus
Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Events
2011 Eat to the Beat Concert Schedule
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Special Events: Updated 7/17 w/ prices/chefs/dates
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Low-Cost and Free Seminars and Activities: Updated 7/26
Epcot Food and Wine Festival Fans Facebook Page
See you at the Festival!
Thanks to Zanna from Zannaland, who graciously agreed to cover the Tables in Wonderland 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Preview Dinner for us on July 16th, 2011! Here are a few tidbits of info she gathered at the event… . Please note that all photos are copyright Suzannah DiMarzio for Disney Food Blog and are not to be used without explicit permission from Disney Food Blog.
The event revealed some important info, including the following:
Don’t forget to check out the 6-page Special Events Guide with all the details as published by Disney.
The new theme this year is a nod to travel from a pre-World War I perspective, with vintage luggage tags with a culinary flair and transportation icons.
2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Theme Intro
The banners that will be seen throughout the World Showcase will be [Read more…]
If you’re an HGTV fan, you might want to block out a few weekends during the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
The details were just announced that some of your favorite Home and Garden Television personalities will be leading free (yep! FREE with Epcot admission) seminars during the festival this Fall. Seminars will focus on home entertaining.
Vern Yip-designed Dining Room
Here’s the schedule:
When: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays during the Festival (Sept. 30-Nov. 13)
Where: [Read more…]
Chef Marianne Hunnel
As you know, I was given the opportunity to speak yesterday evening with Marianne Hunnel, Area Manager, Event Content Development for the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. She has a job that seems to be in equal parts exhilarating and difficult — and she loves it!
Without further ado, let’s jump into what I learned about the Epcot Food and Wine Festival and its true headliner, Marianne Hunnel! At the end of this post, we have a few pieces of news about what you’ll find that’s new at the 2011 Festival!
With five years of directing content development for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival (six festivals altogether), Marianne Hunnel is an expert at shepherding her small, mighty team when it comes to building something bigger and better every single year. Of course, her 15 years working as a Chef on Disney World Property doesn’t hurt in terms of knowing what Disney guests are looking for when it comes to a dining experience!
Planning and development for these 45 festival days takes all year, and includes a lot of research. The first place they turn? Last year’s Food and Wine Festival guests! “[We] take a look at feedback from guests — what people liked, what was not doing very well. We really listen to the guests.”
After taking stock of what you, me, and the rest of the guests preferred last year, the team begins scouting the global trends taking over the food space and begin putting together menu items and tastings. To get unique and authentic input, Hunnel and the team speak with cast members — especially those hailing from countries represented in the World Showcase Marketplace Booths — to collect ideas, reviews, and even family recipes!
According to Hunnel, the festival should always be “interesting, exciting, and educational.”
Healthy Dining
An ongoing focus of the festival is healthy dining. “[We are] trying to incorporate fresh and healthy foods that are indigenous to the regions represented around the marketplace. …And we do it in subtle ways. Guests can say, ‘Wow, you can eat healthy and enjoy going to a festival without feeling really guilty,'” says Hunnel.
In fact, a new event focusing on families and healthy dining will take place on October 29th, featuring Andrew Zimmern and two other celebrity chefs, Bryan Voltaggio and Chris Cosentino. The event will “show the Chefs as Dads. They’re going to have their kids with them, who will be showing techniques that the family can [Read more…]
I had the (very much appreciated) opportunity to speak this evening with Marianne Hunnel, Area Manager, Event Content Development for the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival. In addition to learning lots of fun facts about the Festival — including how much year-round hard work goes into making it happen — I heard a few fun tidbits about the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival that I can’t wait to share with you!
I’ll be writing up the interview to post tomorrow, but this particular detail was too much fun to keep to myself! On three select Sundays during the festival, guests will have the opportunity to attend a Chocolate Discoveries Seminar!
Patterned after the popular Food and Wine Festival Cheese Seminars, Chocolate Discoveries will allow guests to first sample four different chocolates in their natural bar form while a presenter discusses the flavor variations.
Then, guests will have the opportunity to taste a savory dish made with chocolate, desserts made with chocolate, and even chocolate-inspired wine and cocktails!
Sounds like this seminar was made for me! We’ll keep you updated on the details. Booking is available on August 16th, online and by calling 407-WDW-FEST.
As always, all events are subject to change (especially when they haven’t been officially announced yet!)
For more information on the festival, keep an eye on our continuously updated 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival page.
Great news! Dates have been announced for some of the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival special events!
If you’ll be at the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival between September 30 and November 13, you can now start planning what dates you might be attending certain specific events in Epcot.
Check out our 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival Special Events page for dates for Sweet Sundays, Grand Marnier Tastings, Cheese Seminars, Wine Schools, Party for the Senses, Kitchen Memories, 3D Delicious Dessert Discovery, HGTV Home Entertaining Seminars, Food and Wine Pairing Dinners, and Signature Dinners (restaurants are not yet available). Booking for these events opens August 16th at 7am ET. Call 407-WDW-FEST.
Note that we do not yet have the dates or details on the low-cost seminars and demonstrations that will be taking place during the week at the Festival.
As always, we’re bringing you the most up-to-date details on the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
Thanks to Stitch Kingdom for a heads up on a recent press release!
Yesterday we became party to a few new menu items that will show up at the new and returning World Showcase Booths at the 2011 Epcot Food and Wine Festival!
Hawaii Booth
Kalua Pork Slider with Sweet and Sour Dole Pineapple Chutney and Spicy Mayonnaise
Tuna Poke with Seaweed Salad and Lotus Root Chips
Seven Tiki Mai Tai
Kona Longboard
Pipeline beer
Caribbean Islands Booth
Ropa Vieja (Braised Beef) with White Rice
Jerk spiced Chicken Drumstick with Mango Salsa
Frozen Dragon Berry Colada
Frozen Rock Coconut Mojito
Portugal Booth
Calamari Salad with Olives and Smoked Paprika
Portugal Wine Bar
Scandinavia Booth (returning this year)
Swedish Meatballs with Lingon Berries
Xante Sunshine Cocktail made from [Read more…]
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