Australia Booth at 2018 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
*This gluten free dining experience took place in September 2018. It includes notes about dairy free modifications.
For Food & Wine Festival Gluten Free marketplace booth options, be sure to click over to the marketplace booth page for more info.
One of the staples of the Epcot Food & Wine Festival is Australia marketplace booth. It debuted in 1997 and has been a good go-to booth for gluten friendly options for many years. None of the menu items have really changed in the past few years. So, it's good to have a booth to visit that has gluten friendly dishes that are repeats at the festival.
This year the Australia booth has two gluten friendly dishes. The dessert option contains gluten. The two gluten friendly dishes are repeats at the festival and have been at the Australia booth for many years.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.
On my first visit to the booth this year, I ordered the Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas. It is marked as gluten friendly and is also dairy free. It is currently marked as $5.50 per serving and is a Disney Dining Plan Snack Eligible Credit. In years past, I have found this dish to be spicy, but not so spicy that it was hard to eat. But, on this particular visit, I thought the dish was way too spicy. I am a huge fan of spicy food. So, that's saying a lot for me to say it was too much. The spice level was so overpowering that I had to guzzle water after eating it. And, my mouth burned for quite a while after. If spicy food is not your thing, I would avoid this dish.I'm kind of hoping that this was just a fluke and that it's not the normal spice level it should be. I might try to order it again once during the festival. But, if it's still too spicy, it will be a pass from me. That's a shame because the shrimp and combination of sweet and spicy flavors should be a winner. For me, it was just far too spicy to be tasty.If you're gluten free, you may like the other gluten friendly item available at this booth - Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies. If you're dairy free, you'll need to avoid the mint pesto on this dish.Overall, I'm not sure we'll be getting anything else from Australia's marketplace booth this year during the festival. With an overly spicy dish, we'd prefer to find options at other booths instead.Have you been to the Australia booth? What did you think about the gluten friendly options there?
The Almond Orchard Booth at 2018 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
*This gluten free dining experience took place in September 2018. It includes notes about dairy free modifications.
For Food & Wine Festival Gluten Free marketplace booth options, be sure to click over to the marketplace booth page for more info.
The Almond Orchard booth hosted by Blue Diamond Almond Breeze is a relatively new booth to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival debuting in 2017. It’s returned this year for the festival. And, it is one booth that did not list any gluten friendly items but seemed like a booth that should have them due to the use of Blue Diamond products that are gluten free. With this in mind, we decided to stop by the booth to find out some more information about the dishes served there.
Disney notes on their official Food & Wine Festival site that guests can speak to a chef or special diets trained cast member at any time about ingredients and dishes served at the Festival. When I stopped by, I asked to speak to a chef. Unfortunately, the chef was not able to come over to the booth. But, they were able to have a radio discussion with the chef to go over the ingredients.
The chef told us via radio that the Banana Almond Soft Serve Sundae served with Fresh Berries and Chocolate Almond Streusel was gluten friendly with no modifications. The same was true for the Almond Breeze Strawberry Smoothie.The chef also told us that the Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Pulled Chicken, Toasted Blue Diamond Almonds and Parmesan Cheese served with Nut Thins® Crackers and the Fire-roasted Tomato Hummus topped with Blue Diamond Lightly Salted Roasted Almonds and served with Blue Diamond Artisan Nut Thins® Multi-seeds Crackers were also gluten friendly. But, he did state that anything made in their catering kitchen (as most dishes at the festival are) had an increased chance of cross-contamination.With that in mind, we noted that every single item on the Almond Orchard menu was technically gluten friendly but not listed on the festival menu as such. It always seems like there are one or two booths where this happens every year. But, it's was surprising to learn that every single item was gluten friendly. And, the chef seemed to feel strongly that the Banana Almond Soft Serve Sundae and Almond Breeze Strawberry Smoothie were both gluten friendly with no major concerns about cross contamination.That being said, no matter what booth you go to at the Festival 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 -- or in this case, where the items are not marked gluten friendly.
I felt pretty comfortable ordering the Banana Almond Soft-serve Sundae with Fresh Berries and Chocolate Almond Streusel. It is currently $4.50 per serving and is a snack eligible credit on the Disney Dining Plan. The chef via radio told us that this dish is gluten friendly. Our friends at Vegan Disney World confirmed that it can be made vegan by omitting the Chocolate Almond Streusel. (see follow-up to my review below with some notes about the Streusel)Well, I have to say that so far, this may be my favorite dessert that I've had at the Food & Wine Festival in years. It was so good! If you like bananas, then you will enjoy this dessert. It does have a fairly strong banana flavor, as we learned the soft serve is just bananas and almond milk. Combined with the fresh berries and a nice crunch of the streusel on top, and you have a real winner. Our friends at Vegan Disney World were able to thinly sliced plain almonds on their vegan version of this sundae for some added crunch too. So, you don't have to miss out if you're dairy free or vegan.
We visited the Almond Orchard Booth again on another night to get the Banana Almond Soft-serve Sundae with Fresh Berries and Chocolate Almond Streusel and try the Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Pulled Chicken, Toasted Blue Diamond Almonds and Parmesan Cheese served with Nut Thins® Crackers.One of the first things I noticed as they were preparing other sundaes for guests was that the Streusel looked completely different. It actually looked like it contained chocolate (the last time, it did not) and also oats. I do not eat any oats at Disney because Disney often marks non-certified gluten free oats as safe for guests. And, the only gluten free oats I have encountered at Disney has been Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats which are mechanically sorted and may have issues with cross-contamination. I stick to purity protocol oats only, as those are the safest oats for celiacs to consume. Next time I visit, I will be asking some additional questions about the Chocolate Streusel ingredients too!I did ask if they had sliced almonds, as recommended by Vegan Disney World, to add to my sundae. But, they said they did not. So, I just ordered it without any topping. I have to say that the sundae itself was still quite delicious. I think they gave me extra berry sauce this time to make up for the lack of topping. One thing I did notice was that the topping served on the Spinach and Artichoke Dip that we ordered had the same topping that was on my sundae the last time. So, I would ask for that on my next visit or continue to enjoy it minus any topping. I do think the crunch adds a lot to the dish though!
Next up, we tried the Creamy Spinach and Artichoke Dip with Pulled Chicken, Toasted Blue Diamond Almonds and Parmesan Cheese served with Nut Thins® Crackers. It is currently $5.00 per serving and is a snack eligible credit on the Disney Dining Plan. The chef via radio told us that this dish is gluten friendly. It does contain dairy both in the dip and crackers and cannot be modified to be dairy free.Since I have reintroduced dairy back into my diet, I knew this would be a must try at the Almond Orchard booth. I have to say this was a real winner for me. I liked the creamy dip and the combination of flavors. The toasted almonds on top also added a really nice crunch to what could be considered a very mushy dip. It worked well with the crackers too, though I wish we would have been given more crackers because there was a lot of dip for the serving. This is one I would most definitely get again. Brandon, on the other hand, was not a fan of this at all.The Almond Orchard is now a festival favorite for me. I will definitely be going back to the booth for repeat visits throughout the festival. I hope to try the hummus and the smoothie offered there too. It's also nice to know that this booth is gluten friendly despite the lack of labels this year. I do hope that Disney will work to improve labeling and gluten friendly offerings -- especially with this year's Festival including a record low number of marked options. We'll be updating this review with more info as we get it, especially if we can get the ingredients lists.Would you be interested in the options at the Almond Orchard booth? What would you order if you went there?
Brazil Booth at 2018 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
*This gluten free dining experience took place in September 2018. It includes notes about dairy free options.
For Food & Wine Festival Gluten Free marketplace booth options, be sure to click over to the marketplace booth page for more info.
Brazil has been a long time booth at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival debuting in 1996. So, it's fair to say that it's pretty popular. As a gluten free guest, Brazil has always been one of my top booths for gluten friendly options. In fact, there have been several years, like 2016, where every single dish served at the booth has been marked gluten friendly. So, it's a good go-to for any GF guest.
This year, Brazil has two gluten friendly options. Unfortunately, the Seafood Stew is not marked GF, and I suspect it's due to potential cross-contamination with an ingredient (i.e. being unable to confirm the sourcing) rather than gluten in the dish. But, I haven't checked yet this festival season to confirm this.With that in mind, 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 Brazil booth has two of my favorite festival staples. The first is the Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans, Tomato and Onions. This dish is marked gluten friendly and is also dairy free. It is currently marked as $5.75 per serving and is a snack eligible item on the Disney Dining Plan.Although there have been some complaints about the consistency of the way that the pork belly has been cooked over the years, I have never found it to be a major issue. In fact, when I ordered it this time, it was perfectly crispy and well cooked. Add in the flavorful black beans and a fresh salsa on top for an outstanding dish. I admit, I kind of miss the touch of avocado on top. But, it's still one of my favorite gluten friendly dishes of the festival.
The second dish marked gluten friendly at the Brazil booth is Pão de Queijo, also known as Brazilian Cheese Bread. This dish is marked gluten friendly but does contain dairy and cannot be modified to be dairy free. It is currently marked as $4.25 and is a snack eligible item on the Disney Dining Plan.If you can have dairy, you can never go wrong with Brazilian Cheese Bread. This has been a very consistently tasty dish throughout the years at the festival and one that frequently sells out or runs out on any given day. It's that popular.Overall, both of the gluten friendly options available at the Brazil booth are some of my favorites of the festival and a must do on any festival visit.Have you been to the Brazil booth in festivals from years past? What are your favorite dishes served at this booth?
Active Eats Booth at 2018 Epcot Food & Wine Festival
*This gluten free dining experience took place in September 2018. It includes notes about dairy free modifications.
For Food & Wine Festival Gluten Free marketplace booth options, be sure to click over to the marketplace booth page for more info.
Active Eats is a relatively new booth at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival debuting in 2017. It's returned this year for the festival and has one gluten friendly option available. Thankfully, it's a play on one of my favorite festival dishes from the past several years -- the Verlasso Salmon -- so I knew I had to check it out.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 Active Eats menu lists the Spice-crusted Verlasso® Salmon with Warm Lentil Power Salad, Crushed Avocado and Sherry Vinegar as gluten friendly. It is $5.75 per serving and is a Disney Dining Plan Snack Eligible item.We also inquired about the dairy free status of this dish. After the cast members radioed a chef, it was confirmed that the avocado contains dairy in some way. But, the dish can be easily be modified to be dairy free by omitting the avocado.
Overall, we liked the festival's take on the Verlasso Salmon this year. But, it wasn't our favorite version. That's mostly due to the warm lentil salad that acts as the base for this dish. The flavors to this salad were a bit bland. And, it was under-seasoned. That being said, we thought the salmon was extremely flavorful, well seasoned, and perfectly cooked. Epcot definitely has cooking the salmon dishes at festivals down to an art. And, we've found them to be consistently good throughout the years.If you're dairy free, you won't miss out too much by omitting the avocado. We enjoyed it, but it wasn't a make or break component to the dish.I'm not sure this would be a repeat dish every time we visit. But, I'm sure we'll order it at least one more time before the festival ends. It's a solid dish and filling for the price. That being said, we miss the version from the last few years with quinoa and chimichurri and hope they bring it back next year.What do you think about the updated Verlasso Salmon dish? Would you order it when you visit?