VISIT ORLANDO: EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Debuts New Foods & Friends

Today marks the start of the annual EPCOT Food & Wine Festival for 2023, which will run through November 18th. It's the biggest and best festival of the year and one of my personal favorites here in Orlando, Florida. There are new tastes this year, and returning favorites, as well as some new experiences such as Muppet Labs taking over The Odyssey in World Celebration with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker! The guys have whipped up some new culinary delights that may amaze as well as challenge you! Items like the "Unnecessarily Spicy, Yet Extremely Tasty Scotch Bonnet Pepper-Curry Wings with Cool Cucumber Yogurt and Peanut Butter and Jelly Sticky Wings" will see just how adventurous you can be on your trip around the world at EPCOT sampling untold specialities in 25 different Global Marketplaces. In addition to the spicy wings, Bunsen and Beaker have also introduced a new Pickle Milkshake to pucker your lips as you begin your Food & Wine journey. If you're a foodie like me, the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival has to be on your "must-do" list for this year.

Keep an eye out for traditional offerings at each of the Global Marketplaces this year, including some new highlights to tempt your tastebuds, as new items are rolled out throughout the celebration:

• Flavors of America (The American Adventure Pavilion):
  • Italian Hot Beef Sandwich, with shaved beef, spicy giardiniera and au jus on a French roll
  • Cioppino, a seafood stew with saffron-infused tomato-fennel broth
  • Chilaquiles featuring corn tortilla chips tossed in salsa verde with Ranchero chicken, queso fresco, cilantro-lime crema and topped with a soft-poached egg
• Coming August 15th:
  • Hawaii: Featuring various flavors from the Pacific island
  • The Noodle Exchange: Savory ramen and various noodle bowl offerings
• Coming September 22nd:
  • Four NEW Global Marketplaces to kick off the Disney 100 Celebration at EPCOT::
    • Char & Chop: a classic butcher shop with greens & grilled meats (which sounds amazing), Roasted Porchetta, Grilled Impossible Spicy Sausage, and Meat Assorti with three shaved meats + baby arugula, pickled mustard seeds (I detect a theme), truffle oil and grilled ciabatta
    • Wine & Wedge: Southern Pimento Cheese with bread-and-butter pickled veggies (again, there's that theme!), Boursin Fig & Balsamic Souffle, and of course excellent wine options including Selbach-Oster Zeltinger Sonnenuhr Riesling Spätlese, Hartley Apple Brandy and Florida Orange Groves Winery Black and Blue Port.
    • Bubbles & Brine: fresh seafood and champagne
    • Swirled Showcase: desserts galore featuruing a Mickey-shaped Nitro Cake and Fanta Floats!

Now, the Food & Wine festival isn't just about food for your mouth... it's also about food for your EARS!! EPCOT has one of the best concert series of any park in Central Florida, or any park in America for that matter - and this year is no different. World-famous bands will grace the America Gardens Theater every Friday to Monday. Here's a sampling of some musical legends you can see in person included with your ticket to EPCOT:

• Ruben Studdard with Haley Reinhart
• Joey Fatone & Friends
• Boyz II Men
• Orianthi
• Phillip Phillips
• 98 Degrees (!!!!!! omg I might die)
• Billy Ocean
• Hanson
• Shiela E.
• and more!
• Get the dates and full concert line up here.

Of course, there's going to be a ton of merchandise to browse and take home as a souvenir of this year's festival too. Get excited to Visit Orlando and feast your eyes on these photos of some of the newest food available now as EPCOT's Food & Wine Festival kicks off... pardon me while I start drooling...