Disney's Food and Wine Festival 2013

IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN! Covering Disney's Food and Wine Festival is becoming one of the most fun and intensive traditions I have on this blog. Saying I look forward to this event every year is an understatement. I love trying new foods from other countries. I am a foodie at heart, despite not cooking much myself. So I love running around from booth to booth, trying new dishes and skulking around the Festival Center to spy on chef demonstrations. 

In past years, I've seen Robert Irvine and dozed in top-secret lounges, but I always try to trump myself. So here we go. 

If you're participating in the Food and Wine Festival, you can pick up free Discovery Passports. The passports are incredibly useful and small enough to tuck in your pocket. You will find the menus from each country's booth, along with a spot for stamps. I've never collected the stamps in previous years (usually because of laziness and forgetfulness), I decided to go for it this time. 

And, that means that I cheated.

Although most of the booths are countries, others are kind of random with no geographical home (like the Cheese Booth, Refreshment Port, and Desserts & Champagne). I don't drink... not really, no, so I wouldn't actually buy anything from the booths focused on alcohol. And even though I try new foods, I don't have enough time or money to conquer the whole circuit in one year. So what I did was get on line at each booth and patiently waited to collect the stamps. Fair enough, right? The weird part was that I wasn't the only one doing this. Other people - grown adults - were racing between booths, passports flapping in their hands. It was invigorating to see, haha. 

The ultimate prize is getting the Stamp of Completion from the Festival Center. Hoo-rah. You don't even know how proud I was to show the passport at the front desk. And, ironically, the cast member working the desk didn't even check to see if I got them all. I guess I look like a trustworthy person. Here they are anyway:

Food I Ate: 

In a nutshell, I must say that everything I've eaten this year was fantastic. You'll notice that I had a lot more dessert; that's basically because it's October and still extremely hot. More hot than previous years. So the weather has made the festival less leisurely and more... like a lot of work. To stay hydrated, I stopped at water fountains and kept ordering dessert. The silk ice cream ribbon (kind of like Ninja Ice's ice cream) and lychee aerated water from the China Booth basically saved my hide during a very cloudless midday heat wave. Florida, man. 

Lobster and Seafood Fisherman's Pie

Ireland Booth

Potato & Leek Waffle with Braised Beef

Belgium Booth

Kielbasa & Potato Pierogi with Caramelized Onions & Sour Cream

Poland Booth

Vegetarian Haggis with Neeps and Tatties

Scotland Booth

*My Favorite*

Trick'n Chick'n Curry with Basmati Rice

Terra Booth (Vegan)

Chili Colorado with House-made Chips & Cashew Cheese

Terra Booth (Vegan)

Youki Tofu

Japan Booth

Mango-Flavored Silk Ice Cream Ribbon

China Booth

*My Favorite* 

Lychee Aerated Water

China Booth 

Pavlova 

Australia Booth

Frozen Smores 

Desserts & Champagne

Guylian Belgian Chocolate Seashell Truffles

Desserts & Champagne

*My Favorite*

Little German Village:

Sorry guys! I wasn't able to update this section this year because, even though I've been a few times, it's still early in the festival for the train village to be updated. So, to make up for it, I have pictures of the new chocolate sculptures from the Chocolate Experience: From Bean to the Bar!

Later in the month, I'm going to put together another post about the Boardwalk, including some adorable ducks taking over the swimming pool at the Dolphin and my spending the majority of the night listening to some awesome music at Jellyrolls, the dueling piano bar.