Food & Wine Festival

Epcot has a special Food & Wine Festival every year that spans the entire month of October and half of November. Along with the concert series that I've already mentioned, there are also more than 25 international food kiosks set up all over the World Showcase. For a few dollars, they serve appetizer sized portions of regional foods. Yum! If only I had an unlimited amount of dollars...

This year is kind of special because it's the 15th anniversary of the Festival. Each booth has the date when it was added and a large board set up next to it with the menu. This year, Epcot added South Korea, Belgium, and Charcuterie and Cheese.

Special "gift shops" are set up in between the kiosks and their prices are exorbitant, even for Disney. I think this may be because they are outside vendors and can charge as much as they want. I snuck a photo of some nice artwork though. You know when you go to the street fair, or a really nice art studio, and the artists are selling their smaller reprints for around 10 to 20 dollars? Reprints here at a minimum are 75 dollars. Um, no thanks.

There are seminars and demonstrations offered as well as meet and greets and book signings with chefs at the Festival Welcome Center. I got really excited for a minute when I found out that Kat Cora (Iron Chef), Jamie Deen (Paula Deen's son!), and Andrew Zimmern (Bizarre Foods) would be there but it would cost literally an arm and a leg to meet them or attend their programs. Other notable chefs that may also induce excitement if you're a food network junkie like myself: Keegan Gerhard (hosted lots of Food Network Challenges), Robert Irvine (Dinner Impossible), and Robin Miller (Quick Fix Meals).