2022 International Food and Wine Festival, Part 1
As promised in my first ever East Coast post, my Review Team and I attended this event at Epcot in Florida. This festival originated in 1996 as a way for Americans to “expand their palette”. 20+ years later this event is going strong with lots of different fun foods and opportunities to greet countless people from their respective countries. Here are some of the foods that we wanted to share with you.
Hawaii 🇺🇸
Pork Slider: not bad, definitely feels like something one could make while hosting a luau and the spicy mayo was a perfect balance to the sweetness of the pineapple!
SPAM Musubi Nigiri: SPAM sushi anyone? This dish was certainly a “you had to try it type dish” and in all honesty the first couple of bites were not bad…until you kept chewing and realized in the end it was still SPAM sushi! 🤣
Passion Fruit Cheesecake: The highlight of the trio! So good, so soft, and the guava was delicious! The cheesecake didn’t have a crust on the bottom either (which I personally like best).
Australia 🇦🇺
Roasted Lamb Chop: With mint pesto and “potato crunchies”, interesting right? I felt the mint was too overbearing, but otherwise this was pretty good. Crushed chips on lamb chops Australia? That’s just weird, mate.
Lamington: Those from “down under” really knocked this one out of the park, absolutely delicious. The raspberry in the middle was amazing and I love coconut so this was easily one of my favorite desserts.
Ireland 🇮🇪
Warm Chocolate Pudding Cake: With Irish cream liqueur custard! Absolutely amazing dessert, crunchy cake on the outside, soft pudding cake on the inside. The custard on top was the perfect touch, not a big chocolate guy, but this was fantastic.
Guinness Baileys Coffee Shake: They really should have a massive sign that reads, “pair with the warm chocolate pudding cake for a good time!” The perfect duo. This drink was smooth, creamy, and an overall really good dessert drink and easily my favorite dessert drink at the festival.
Be sure to look for the next 3 countries I’ll be sharing with you tomorrow!
Reporting for Henry’s Take
Joseph LaMonica
Senior Field Correspondent
EPCOT
200 Epcot Center Drive
Lake Buena Vista, Florida
(407) 368-9480
