Lift Up Your Hearts!

With the nonchalance of season passholders, we spent the day at EPCOT’s International Food and Wine Festival. The park was not crowded by their standards, but it was by ours; we prefer to go when time spent waiting in line is minimal. Today, however, we found ourselves in line again, and again, and again…each time at a small booth with a long queue, that featured a different country’s food and drink. Portions were appetizer-sized, and prices were Disney-sized, but the idea was great. If the portions had been any larger, we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy so many tastes. It helps to have a partner in this situation: you wait in this line, I’ll wait in that one, then we’ll meet and share the food. It was a strategy that worked well.

Waiting in line was a social event, too. Floridians seem to have made an easy transition from exchanging hurricane preparation tips while in line at Home Depot, to exchanging food recommendations while waiting at EPCOT.

The food itself was variable. Between us, we experienced

• New Zealand: Green Lip Mussels (so-so; the preparation was good, but the mussels themselves were not, and certainly not up to the quality of the dish of the same name we enjoyed in Auckland.
• Ireland: Guiness Stew (a rather ordinary beef stew, but the flavor was quite good, and somehow comforting)
• Scandinavia: Cold Poached Salmon (one of the best, with a delicious lemon cream sauce)
• China: Dan Dan Noodles (all right, but bland); Chicken Sha Cha with Peanut Sauce (almost tasteless; were there any peanuts in the sauce at all?); Akadama Plum Wine (good, made the food more interesting)
• South Africa: Durban Spiced Chicken (wonderful! best dish of the day; lots of flavor)
• Italy (regular pavilion, not a Festival booth): tiramisu and chocolate mousse (both good, but the mousse triumphed)
• New England: free taste of Vermont Cabot sharp cheddar cheese (just about worth the price, not sharp at all)
• France: Escargot Provencal (almost as good as the Durban Spiced Chicken), Crêpe au Fromage et Jambon (not bad but nothing special)
• Poland: Nalewka Babuni Cherry Wine (recommended to us by someone who obviously never had to take cherry-flavored cough syrup as a child)
• Canada: Cheddar Cheese Soup (delicious, at least in a small portion, with detectable wine, bacon, and onion flavors in addition to the cheese)

Having run out of meals and appetite, we saved some other interesting pavilions (Southeast Asia, India, Morocco, and more) for another trip. Next time we’ll know to sign up early for the Twinings tea tasting.