Active Eats Booth at 2019 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
*This gluten free dining experience took place in September 2019. It includes notes about dairy free modifications, as well as vegetarian, and vegan options.
For Food & Wine Festival Gluten Free marketplace booth options, be sure to click over to the marketplace booth page for more info.
Active Eats, located this year in Future World West, first debuted at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival in 2017. Featuring healthful options, this has been a good go-to gluten free booth the past few years and has included different variations of the Verlasso Salmon dish -- a gluten free festival favorite. I was glad to see the booth return this year to the festival, especially since it now has two gluten friendly options available. *Note: As of 9/24/2019, I have learned that one of these dishes is NOT gluten free and contains gluten. As of 10/2019, Disney has updated the dish to make the Salmon dish gluten free once again.
Because this booth is NOT 100% gluten free, there is always an increased risk of cross-contamination. Use your own judgement when consuming items that are not in dedicated gluten free booths or booths that contain almost all gluten friendly dishes.
The two gluten friendly options available at the Active Eats booth include:
- *Dish has been updated due to gluten in the original dish marked GF. Spice-crusted Verlasso® Salmon with UNCLE BEN’S® Basmati Rice, Lentils, Quinoa, Crushed Avocado and Sherry Vinegar
- Fruit and Nut Energy Snack: House-made mixture of Apricots, Almonds, Pecans, Coconut, Puffed Rice and Chocolate Chips
The salmon is also a must-order for me at this booth, but I was very curious about the fruit and nut energy snack. Our friends at Vegan Disney World had confirmed that not only was this dish gluten free and vegetarian (as marked on the festival passport), but it was also dairy free and vegan.
*Dish has now been updated to be gluten free (after it was mislabeled and contained gluten). The Spice-crusted Verlasso® Salmon with UNCLE BEN’S® Quinoa & Ancient Grains Medley, Crushed Avocado and Sherry Vinegar is marked gluten free on the passport and costs $5.75 and is eligible as a snack credit on the Disney Dining Plan.
Last year's version of this dish contain dairy in the avocado mash. Because we attended the festival the day before Hurricane Dorian was set to affect Central Florida, I did not ask about the avocado and dairy. The festival booths had been adjusted to still operate but weren't operating at full capacity. This meant the booths were a bit busy. However, I will work to double-check these ingredients on a regular festival day. If you're dairy free, do make sure you double-check before consuming.
As always, I really enjoy the salmon dish. It wasn't very spicy and was fairly mild in flavor. The only flavor that was a bit strong was the sherry vinegar in the quinoa and ancient grain medley. My only big complaint with this dish is that it continues to shrink in size. I'd love a slightly larger portion of salmon. As an aside, I did have a stomach ache after eating this and have since learned that the dish contains gluten. The booth has updated the dish so that it is made using gluten free ingredients now after many of us reached out to Disney about the dish containing gluten but being labeled GF.
The Fruit and Nut Energy Snack: House-made mixture of Apricots, Almonds, Pecans, Coconut, Puffed Rice and Chocolate Chips is marked gluten free and vegetarian on the passport and costs $4.00 and is eligible as a snack credit on the Disney Dining Plan. Vegan Disney World also confirmed that it is dairy free and vegan.
Last year, the Active Eats booth had a version of a fruit and nut snack on their menu, but it was not marked gluten free. I was excited to see it marked GF this year. Overall, I really loved this dish. It wasn't very sweet at all -- though the dried fruit and chocolate chips gave a nice hint of sweetness throughout. My only major complaint is that it "melted" very quickly.
The snack came from the refrigerator and was served chilled. But, within mere minutes it started coming apart quickly in the heat. So, I would recommend eating this quickly and indoors if you can. It's not a great dish for holding up to sitting around for a long period of time. That being said, I would totally get this again for a mid-morning or evening snack. If you like granola type bars, you'll enjoy this one. If not, I'd pass.
Overall
*Updated Note from Sarah: I am deeply disappointed that Disney is currently marking a dish gluten free and continuing to serve it as such. However, I'm glad that Disney responded to this error swiftly once notified and have since modified the dish to be gluten free.
I was glad to see two options available to gluten free guests at the Active Eats booth this year. Both were solid options, in my opinion, and were quite tasty. In addition, anytime there's a booth with more than one GF option, the better. Not only does it mean there are more options to try and enjoy, but it also helps reduce the risk of cross-contamination. The Active Eats booth will definitely be a repeat for me this year during the festival.
Have you been to the Active Eats booth? What did you think of the GF options?