In keeping with our trip to Walt Disney World for the Food & Wine Festival the end of September, this month I will talk about the variety of beers available around World Showcase. Read more
Dining at Disney: Beers Around the World
Food and Wine Festival
Thrifty Thursday: Disney at Home
Your car needs a new motor. Your husband lost his job. The IRS has slapped you with a giant fine. Life costs money. Sometimes more than you have. And at that point, a flight to Orlando (not to mention on-site lodging and daily Park tickets) simply isn’t an option.
When money is tight and a visit to the Mouse House just isn’t in the cards, I like to make a little Disney magic in my kitchen. It’s easier than walking to Orlando, cheaper than eating out, and more fun than eating the same old brussels sprouts and dry chicken breast. Read more
Thrifty Thursday: Preparing the Disney Food Bucket List
There are so many things to do, see, ride and eat at Walt Disney World that no matter how many times you visit there are always new things to experience. Part of the fun of planning your trip is incorporating untried things into your itinerary. For me, there are many foods I have yet to try, many of which are spoken about constantly on the Disney blogs, podcasts, and websites as people’s all time favorite things. So, I have formulated my Disney Bucket List of food items that I plan to partake in during my upcoming trips to Walt Disney World. I know there are many more favorites of Disney fans out there, and this list is certainly not all-inclusive. It’s just some of the ones I hope to try this year 🙂
Be Our Guest: Disney Dispatch Serves Up Food and Wine Festival Series
One of my favorite bloggers, Bob from the Disney Dispatch has been writing a series on the Food and Wine Festival that I wish I had read last year as a 
Food and Wine newbie: Country Cuisine Confidential, where he is literally reviewing each country participating in the festival, and offering descriptions of the food and drink available at each country.
Yes, an explanation of “What IS it” for each country’s food. 🙂
As Bob himself describes the series:
The three most common words spoken by guests at Epcot’s annual Food & Wine Festival aren’t “that’s so good!” but “what is this?”. Unless you’re a serious foodie, you’re going to be flummoxed by flavors untasted and dishes undreamed. Luckily, it isn’t a big deal since the folks serving the food love to talk about it and will answer all your questions.
But wouldn’t it be nice knowing a bit about each cuisine before you belly up to the booth?
….. I’m offering a crash course in demystifying the dishes served. Country by country, we’ll look together at the menu items and do some detective work to discover how each dish fits into the national cuisine, which ingredients are used in its preparation, and what it (should) taste like.
Nothing, of course, beats actually tasting the food, but on the assumption that your mind gets it before your stomach, let’s bib up the brain and see what’s on the menu.
Here is an excerpt for his entry on Mexico:
Mexico made its first appearance at the Food & Wine Festival in 1996, the same year that the Festival itself began. This year, the Mexican booth is in front of the Mexico Pavilion, where it belongs.
Let’s look at our menu:
Tamal de Pollo
Mexico is serving simple dishes with exotic names. A tamal de pollo is a chicken tamale. To make a tamale, meat- or vegetable-filled masa is wrapped in corn husks and then boiled or steamed. You unwrap it from the husk to eat it. Unlike a taco or a burrito, which you can eat by hand, a tamale is typically a plated dish that you eat with a fork.
Masa (Spanish for ‘dough’) is made from whole corn, not wheat. At the Festival, the masa will be filled with seasoned chicken, probably not too spicy, and not slathered with sauce, either. Tamales lack the universal appeal of easily eaten tacos and aren’t available at chains like Taco Bell. They’re also time-consuming to cook at home and require special ingredients like corn husks. That’s your cue to eat lots of them here!
You can read the rest of this post here: Country Cuisine Confidential 2010, Part 14: Mexico
And find a link to descriptions to all of the countries right here: Country Cuisine Confidential 2010: All You Need to Know About All There Is to Eat and Drink at the Food & Wine Festival
Bon Apetit!
Wordless Wednesday: Welcome to the Food and Wine Festival
In less than a week, this year’s International Food and Wine Festival will begin at Epcot. We had the pleasure….and I do mean pleasure….of attending last year, and it was a fantastic 4 days of eating and drinking around the World! To those of you who are going this year….enjoy! Bon apetite!