Disney’s Epcot Festival of the Arts 2023 starts January 13 and runs through February 20, 2023. This year the foodies guide is jam packed with delicious culinary art available at multiple Food Studios (kitchens) around World Showcase.
There are many NEW dishes to sample and some returning favorites. All inspired by “the creation and beauty of cuisine, music, and of course, art” per Disney.
Figment Plays a Big Role at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
GOOD NEWS- the Figment Popcorn bucket is all set for a return this year. In addition to the popcorn bucket, Figment is also hosting an inspiration food station at the Odyssey as well as appearing on much of the festival merchandise.
photo credit: Disney Destinations
You Get a Prize for Sampling Food Around World Showcase
Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine is a food stroll! Grab a pamphlet for the festival and get your stamp from each location when you purchase the dish assigned to the stroll. At the end, you can claim your prize and have a great souvenir. The dishes that are part of the stroll are marked here.
Let’s take a look at what’s instore for us “foodie” this year!
Food Studios at Epcot’s Festival of The Arts 2023
Some of the most artful dishes are being offered at the food studios this year. The colorful and creative ways the culinary team bought them together looks and sounds impressive from the descriptions and photos. Many of the dishes feel like the comfort food we crave during those winter months, even in Florida.
Pop Eats
This food studio brings you classics like tomato soup and grilled cheese. The NEW Tomato soup with pimento cheese (includes bacon, and fried green tomatoes) is an upgrade, right?
photo credit: Disney Destinations
Maybe you’re in the mood for dessert. Try a Frangipane layered cake (with raspberry jam and Belgian chocolate, Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine item). It looks too pretty to eat!
Thirsty? Grab a Brooklyn Brewery Pulp Art Hazy IPA or a Bleu Spectrum with Blanc de Bleu Cuvee Mousseux and boba pearls
The Deconstructed Dish at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
Every dish is deconstructed here..as the name would suggest, even the beverages! Here’s the menu:
- Deconstructed BLT: Pork belly, soft-poached egg, onion bread pudding, watercress espuma and tomato jam
- Deconstructed French Onion Soup: Beef broth ravioli, gruyere cream, onion bread pudding and onion textures
- Deconstructed Key Lime Pie: Flexible Key lime curd, “Key lime” mousse, graham cracker cake (Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Item)
Beverages include:
- Deconstructed Apple Pie a la Mode: Apple-cinnamon gelato, cinnamon apple cider, apple pie filling and streusel (Non-Alcoholic)
- Wicked Weed Brewing Blank Canvas Belgian Blonde Witbier (say that 3x fast)
Deco Delights
At this food studio, you can find some of the most artful looking sweet treats at the festival. That includes Dulce Chocolate Mousse, Decadent Valrhona Chocolate or an Orange Mousse with lemon Cake and raspberry meringues (Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Item).
Beverages available to sample at the Deco Delight Food Studio include:
- 3 Daughters Brewing Strawberry Blonde Nitro
- 81 Bay Brewing Co. Vanilla Porter
- Playalinda Brewing Co. Milk Stout
- Espresso martini featuring Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka (new)
- Neapolitan Beer Flight
The Craftsman’s Courtyard at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
Try a Beef Wellington (with mushroom duxelles, prosciutto, and puff pastry and a red wine demi=glace and baby vegetables) or some cast iron roasted P.E.I. Mussels (with sautéed tomatoes, garlic, and fresh herbs).
Your drink choices include a BrewDog Jet Black Heart Nitro Oatmeal Stout (new) or a Cold Fashion Coffee Cocktail. That sounds amazing to me!
The Refreshment Outpost
This food studio offers a plant-based Bratwurst (with spicy turmeric aioli, coffee barbecue jackfruit and slaw). I’m not a plant-based eater but it sounds like something I’ll have to try.
In addition, you can also enjoy an artist palette jumbo chocolate chip cookie or soft=serve waffle cone with DOLE WHIP and salted-caramel soft-serve.
Beverage choices here are:
- Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. Berries & Cream Sour Berliner (new)
- Left Hand Brewing Co. Wook Bait IPA (new)
- Central 28 Beer Company Wall Art Brown Ale
Pastoral Palate (Germany)
Germany has you covered with the industrial strength winter comfort food! Take a taste of a Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib (with parsnip puree, broccolini, baby tomatoes, and aged balsamic). There’s also a dish of Wild Boar Cassoulet (with duck confit, ham hock and wild soar sausage) or the Black Forest Cake.
Drink choices are plentiful here with your choice of:
- 3 Daughters Brewing Rose Hard Cider
- 81 Bay Brewing Co. Rose Blonde Ale
- Frozen Rose
- A Play on Rose Flight
- Marietta Old Vine Rose
I sense a theme there!
The Artist’s Table (American Adventure) at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
If you are looking for classic American comfort food, try the Three-Meat Meatloaf (new), Duck and Dumplings (New), or a good old-fashioned Hummingbird Cake (banana cake with pineapple, coconut, pecans, and cream cheese frosting served with banana sorbet-also new).
The beverages at this food studio include:
- Sipping Chocolate Flight: White, Milk and Dark chocolate (non-alcoholic)
- Boulevard Brewing Co. Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale (new)
- Parish Brewing Co. South Coast Session Amber Ale (new)
- Brewery Ommegang Three Philosophers Belgian Quad (new)
- Lange Estate Winery Pinot Noir
- Symphony in Chocolate Flight: Mozart Chocolate Liqueurs paired with sipping chocolates
- Beer Flight
Tangerine Café: Flavors of the Medina (Morocco)
At Tangerine Café, try the Carrots Three Ways or House-made Crispy Almond Phyllo Pockets (with chocolate pomegranate and milk chocolate orange). Drinks are cider based and include:
- Chai Tea Mint Sparkler (non-alcoholic)
- Stem Ciders Flockstar hard Cider
- Blake’s Hard Cider Co. Mule de Pomme (pomegranate, ginger, and lime hard cider)
- Chai Tea Mint Mimosa (featuring Twining’s Chai Tea with Key lime sparking wine and mint)
- Cider Flight
Vibrante & Vivido: Encanto Cocina
Do you like Empanadas? At this food studio, you can have your fill of Chorizo and Potato Empanada (with turmeric aioli and annatto aioli- Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine item). Perhaps you would like to sample Spicy Ajiaco Soup or a Passion Fruit Mousse (both gluten free/wheat friendly)
This is also the place to get smoothies like the Coconut and Passion Fruit Smoothie, a Frozen Pina Colada, or a Passion Fruit Daiquiri.
Refreshment Port (Near Canada)
Gnocchi Poutine, a Jumbo chocolate chip cookie and a soft-serve waffle cone with Strawberry and Lemon Dole Whip will fill you with goodness from this food studio. For a drink, sip a Blood Orange Cosmo, or Boulevard Brewing Co. Quirk Blueberry Lemon & Lavender Hard Seltzer (new).
Gourmet Landscapes (Canada)
The Blood Orange-braised Beet Tartare (with mustard vinaigrette, pickled clamshell mushrooms, and golden beets -Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Item) (Plant-based Item) (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly) is great dish to start with at this food studio. Also included on the menu are:
- Roasted Bone Marrow (with onion marmalade, pickled mushrooms, and petite lettuce)
- Wild Mushroom Risotto (with aged Parmesan, truffle shavings, and zinfandel reduction)
Beverages offered are:
- Whole Hog Brewery Raspberry Chéret Double Radler
- Schlumberger Cuvée Klimt Brut
- The Meeker Vineyard Winemaker’s Handprint Merlot
- Frozen Rusty Nail Cocktail
No cheddar cheese soup??
Moderne (near test track) at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
The Moderne Food Studio brings you a great plant-based option- Compressed Watermelon Tataki (with pickled watermelon rind, yuzu pearls, watermelon foam, and wasabi (new).
Are you a Seafood lover? Try the Angry Crab! It’s a whole crispy soft-shell crab with green papaya salad, mango-siracha fluid gel, and coconut-lime foam with pomegranate and mango crush pearls (new). You can also enjoy Pan Seared Scallops.
For dessert taste The Tropics which is lilikoi mousse, guava cake, coconut Cremieux, compressed pineapple, and mango gel.
Lastly, Moderne will offer a new twist on the Bloody Mary with the Watermelon Mary that features Boyd & Blair Potato Vodka (new) or you can sip on a Lohr Riesling (new).
Figment’s Inspiration Station at the Odyssey: Art, Food, and Little Sparks of Magic
What does Figment bring to life from our imaginations? I think it will stimulate all of the senses. The star of the festival has many sweet options. Here’s a breakdown:
- Fruit Pizza: Watermelon, compressed cantaloupe, berries, and berry balsamic (New, plant-based and gluten/wheat free)
- Pop’t Art: Sugar Cookie with blueberry filling (Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Item)
- Rainbow Cake with freeze-dried SKITTLES bite sized candies
- Figment Premium Popcorn Bucket with rainbow popcorn (limit 2 per person)
Beverages:
- Grape Smoothie with freeze-dried SKITTLES bite sized candies (Non-alcoholic, new)
- 3 Daughters Brewing Black Cherry Hard Cider (new)
- 3 Daughters Brewing Blood Orange Hard Cider (new)
- 3 Daughters Brewing Passion Fruit Hard Cider (new)
- Rainbow Cider Flight (new)
- 81 Bay Brewing Co. Green with Envy Blonde Ale (new)
- 81 Bay Brewing Co. Blue Butterfly Lager (new)
- Urban Artifact the Gadget Raspberry & BlackBerry Midwest Fruit Tart (new)
- Rainbow Beer Flight (new)
That’s A LOT for a little figment of our imagination!!!
Connections Café
Figment is the star again. Here you can grab a Figment Liege Waffle (new)
Connections Eatery
The alcoholic drink Dusk ‘Til Dawn is again available. It’s Three Olives Blueberry Vodka, lemonade, and orange juice with cotton candy. My teeth hurst just writing all these sweet options!
L’Art de la Cuisine Francaise (France)
France is always one of the best of the festivals when it comes to their dishes. They are bringing back the Crème de Brie en Petit Pain. So yummy! The Croissant a la Truffle Noir d’Hiver ,which is a Black winter truffle croissant, is also again on the menu.
New this year is a plant-based napoleon with beets, cashew-herb filling, pepper-pine nut sauce, and balsamic vinegar caviar.
Lastly, France has dessert in the form of Moelleux aux Noisettes et Chocolats Valrhona described as Molten chocolate and hazelnut cake with pure origin Valrhona chocolates and passion fruit-mango sauce.
Beverages at France include:
- Frozen French Martini
- Charles Lafitte, Brut Rose Prestige, Methode Traditionanelle Champenoise, French Rose Sparking Wine (that’s a lot of products I can’t pronounce correctly for sure).
- Domaine Raphael Sallet, Macon-Uchizy Les Maranches 2020, Chardonnay, Maconnais, Burgundy
- Ciroc Sunset Citrus Vodka
El Artista Hambriento (Mexico)
The Mexican food studio is another regular favorite, and they are serving all new dishes this year:
- Carne Asada: Chipotle-marinated beef sirloin, sweet potato puree, and crispy-fried onions (new)
- Huarache de Champinones: Guajillo Chile and corn masa huarache with pinto beans, oyster mushrooms, Nopales, queso fresco and pea tendrils (new)
- Flan de coco: Coconut flan, guava sauce and whipped cream (new, gluten/wheat free)
Here you can savor a Mexican margarita (one of which is marshmallow!) or enjoy a Mexican craft beer.
Goshiki (Japan) at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
Goshiki food studio this season has a lot of new dishes to try. There’s a pork cutlet sandwich (with tangy tonkatsu sauce and cabbage in a rainbow sweet bread, new). In addition, they are also offering a sushi donut which is a savory dish despite the name. The last dish is titled “Ichigo Daifuku” which is mixed berry mochi, sweet azuki bean paste, and mascarpone (new).
As far as drinks, Japan has a Sui Sui Watercolor Lager (new), a Masa Sake, served in a traditional wooden cup, and Purple Yuzu Sake Lemonade (new).
The Painted Panda (China)
The food from the China Pavilion food studio won’t taste like your average American style Chinese takeout. Here you can once again try the General Tso’s Chicken Shumai and the Char Siu Pork Bun.
In addition, the bubble milk is a huge hit all year round. Other options include:
- Lucky Foo Pale Ale
- Silky Road Hard Lemonade with Smirnoff Vodka, lavender-coconut syrup, and lemonade (new)
- Sea Butterfly: Butterfly Pea Flower-infused cocktail with Smirnoff Vodka, light rum, lychee syrup, and magic boba pearls
L’Arte di Mangiare (Italy)
Of course, you can try a handful of drinks at the Italy food studio such as Chianti, Prosecco, Italian margaritas, Italian sangrias and a bellini, but as far as food here you can taste:
- Mozzarella Fritta: Flash-fried breaded fresh mozzarella with artist palette condiments (new)
- Ravioli ai Funghi, Perle Tartufate: Wild mushroom-stuffed pasta with truffle butter and truffle pearls (new)
- Chocolate pudding with a colorful chocolate décor (new)
Funnel Cake at Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
If you are looking for the sweet taste of funnel cake, try the mini version with cappuccino ice cream topped with chocolate whipped cream and M & M’s candy (new).
Joffrey’s Coffee and Tea Company
Around Epcot, Joffrey’s locations have specialty frozen blends of colorful drinks in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions. The places to find them are as follows:
- World Discovery- Amber Frost: blend of frozen lemon ice, a splash of Minute Maid Premium Lemonade, blood orange, and orange popping boba pearls (new, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic available)
- Near Canada- Magenta Frost: blend of frozen lemon ice, a splash of Minute Maid Premium Lemonade, dragon fruit, and dragon fruit popping boba pearls (new)
- Showcase Plaza-Jade Frost: blend of frozen lemon ice, a splash of Minute Maid Premium lemonade, green apple, and green apple popping boba pearls (new, both versions available)
- The American Adventure- Cerulean Frost: blend of frozen lemon ice, a splash of Minute Maid Premium Lemonade, blue raspberry and blueberry popping boba pearls (new, both versions available)
The Epcot Festival of The Arts 2023
This year is a great year to taste test wonderful dishes from around the world inspired by the arts! If you are visiting Epcot between January 13 and February 20, 2023, the festival is a free experience. Don’t forget to take advantage of the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine. It’s a tasty way to earn a free souvenir.
If you are interested in a free no obligation quote for your trip to enjoy this amazing festival, don’t hesitate to send me an email using the link below. Epcot hosts 4 festivals throughout the year. To find out more about the Disney World theme parks or Disney Springs, click the links below for highlights on each. Share your comments below!
Epcot/ Magic Kingdom/ Animal Kingdom/ Hollywood Studios/Disney Springs
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