Food and Wine Festival 2004

[Guest]

I guess this is the best place to start. Well it’s one of the main reasons/excuses for the trip!
This event gets bigger every year and creates quite a different atmosphere to EPCOT, particularly the World Showcase area.
On the plus side, there was a lively buzz around the place at all times, and there were even more tasty treats on offer to tempt us.
A slight downside, which we’d not experienced before, was the pretty heavy drinking by some, which brought a very rowdy and immature element to a usually mellow environment.

Food first:

Paul’s overall favourite was the Veggie Indian curry
It was mainly chick peas and potato, with more than a hint of coconut. Quite spicy too!
He had it 3 times in one week!
I had it once and can testify to its tastiness. However I favoured the Chicken Tikka, which was served with a refreshing drizzle of cucumber yogurt.



I do wish there’d been some poppadoms or a bit of Naan available though!


In Morocco Paul had the Veggie Cous-Cous which he declared ‘Nice enough, but a bit bland overall’
My Beef Kebob wasn’t bland and the spicy tomato sauce gave it a nice lift.



The Hummus was very good indeed, and you got loads for just $1



From China I had the Chicken Cha Sha. It was very popular and I could see why, once I’d tasted it for myself. It had that familiar Chinese BBQ flavour, and was served with a light peanut sauce. YUM!



Even better than this, IMHO was the Durban chicken from South Africa. It was rich, spicy and sweet. I wish there had been something a little tastier to mop up the sauce though – the mealy corn cake was very bland with a weird jellylike texture!



The Chocolate items from Italy were very popular, and not expensive considering the quality.
We tried the Giandujia Torte and the Choc Hazelnut Cake. Pure deliciousness!





Other faves, which I sadly did not get pics of, were the Lamb Chop with Sweet Onion and Shiraz Sauce from Australia, and the Cold Poached Salmon with Cucumber Sauce from Norway. Oh and the Chicken Quesadillas from Mexico.

Prices weren’t too bad, ranging from 1 to 4 dollars for a smallish sample.

Although there were a couple more dishes that he didn’t fancy trying, I do wish there had been a few more veggie choices for Paul, as I felt a bit guilty having so much to taste, and that held me back from trying even more! LOL

So now on to the wine bit:

The wine seminars that we attended were enjoyable and informative, but very time consuming.
To make sure of getting a place, you had to start queuing around half an hour before the advertised start time. (We did see people getting turned away). Then there is a bit of a wait whilst everyone gets seated.
The seminars lasted around 45 minutes, so you’re talking 1½ hours to do just one wine tasting!
We found that the seminars in the Festival Welcome Centre were attended by the more serious wine buffs – rather than those passing by the Terrace, who were perhaps tempted in by the CM we saw, offering ‘Free wine, this way everybody! ’
It was a bit irritating to be seated behind a group of young women, who chatted very loudly amongst themselves, instead of listening to the vintner’s tales!

The format we usually encountered was that you arrive at your table to find 4 smallish glasses of wine, lined up on a paper tablemat that was numbered. (Also a jug of water and some crackers)
They would tell you a bit of the history behind their vineyard, also some geographical details, and how their particular grapes are harvested and processed. We’d then go on to taste and compare the wines.
Some used video as an aid, others were natural storytellers. The guy from Villa Maria in New Zealand was particularly entertaining!

The glasses of wine available to buy from the wine tasting areas (rather than the food booths) tended to be the best value for money, and there was opportunity to try some very nice quality wines that aren’t available in this country.
Everyone we came across here was friendly and helpful – no major wine snobbery, and only a wee smidgen of eager pretension! LOL
One night the guy at the Terrace gave me a free glass of Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, because there wasn’t quite enough in the bottle for a full measure! Very generous indeed, I thought! Saved me $6.
The measures being sold in France on the other hand, were bordering on criminal, they were so small!

A fun time was had at the Australian wine tasting area. There was a small roped off area, where you could purchase a ‘passport’ enabling you to taste 5 wines from different regions in Australia. It cost $6 and you didn’t have to try them all at once. You could come and go as you liked, they marked off what wines you’d just tasted, as a reminder.



We noticed quite a bit of good natured squiffyness in this area (from the Aussie promo guys – not the customers! LOL)

We also happened across a more casual, shorter wine tasting in this area, which wasn’t advertised. Just good timing I guess!

We enjoyed our time at the Food and wine Festival very much and will of course do it all again one day!
We did find the wait times a tad frustrating, so as a result didn’t do half the things we’d hoped to. We often seemed to be in the wrong area at the wrong time – maybe they planned it that way to disperse the crowds.
I would also like to have taken in some of the food demos, but Paul gets his enjoyment from eating his food – not queuing up to watch it being prepared on a hot sunny day in Florida!
There were some items that I missed out on, but I do have my figure to think of……………………

And lots of other food experiences to try whilst on my hols!

[Guest]

Excellent report!

[Guest]

Oh more lovely descriptions of food and piccies
Claire

[janeywaney]

Great report lovely photo's.
Jane

[Anne]

Great report Sue

What a shame that it was spoilt by some with their behaviour though

[Guest]

Lovely looking food.

Ironically we came across a few heavily under the influence people last year at both Universal and Disney parks.

Nice foodie report.

[Mike]

The Chocolate items from Italy were very popular, and not expensive considering the quality.

See more...

... I'm drooling over the accompanying pics Sue! We absolutely must do the Festival one year... even if it means leaving the kids at home!

Mike

[ANGEL]

mmmmmm lovley thanks Sue...we loved this when we went a couple of years ago

[Guest]

Thanks for the encouraging words guys.

I hope to get some more reviews up tomorrow.
I need some more help from my co-producer and technician, mcpaul.

[Clare]

Fantastic report Sue - it's making me very hungry.
Clare