Happy #tastytuesday friends! This week, I wanted to share my allergy friendly experience at the Taste of Epcot International Festival of the Holidays. As with my last festival review, I am only sharing the dishes that I liked and wanted to share, and so this review does not include every single booth.
Running from November 27th- December 31st, Festival of the Holidays celebrates the different holiday traditions represented in the 11 countries of Epcot’s World Showcase. You can take a Holiday Cookie Stroll, see select entertainment, and try food samplings at each country that is represented through 17 food booths.
If you read my Food & Wine Festival review, you’ll already know that I really love the offerings at Las Posadas in the Mexico Pavilion. I decided to try the Giant Tostada de Chorizo, which is already noted as gluten free on the menu. I made sure to specify no cheese and no crema for my order, which the booth was able to accommodate easily.
And the sign didn’t lie- this tostada was HUGE! And amazing. The corn tortilla was cooked perfectly and was crunchy and salty. The Chipotle black bean purée was what dreams are made of- so decadent and delicious. And the salsa verde was on point! 10/10 for me.
Although not at the Mexico food booth, I decided to stop by Choza de Margarita, the designated outdoor margarita booth in the Mexico pavilion, to try the Spicy Blackberry margarita. This drink was extremely strong and took me a while to finish, especially since we were doing a lot of walking between pavilions and I could not take off my mask unless I was stationary. Overall, this drink was a 7/10 for me. It was tasty, but I missed the spicy rim because I was using a straw and the blackberry notes sometimes did not come through.
The next stop for me was at Shi Wasu in the Japan pavilion. Another favorite festival booth of mine, I was curious to try the Chirashi Sushi Tree.
The sushi tree was so cute!! I loved the shape of the tree made out of rice and the colors of the fish with the cucumber to make it look like a decorated tree. One note I would make is that this dish is actually served with spicy mayo on top, which is not advertised on the menu. I asked for mine without the spicy mayo, which the booth easily accommodated. 8/10 for me- the design was awesome, but the flavor was a little bland without a sauce.
The last booth I wanted to talk about in this blog post is L’Chaim!. I knew going into this festival that this booth had the only designated plant based offerings of the festival, so I knew I wanted to try at least one of them. Both the Potato Latkes and the Black and White Cookie are plant based. I decided to try the potato latkes here.
Oh. Em. Tastebuds. This was my favorite dish out of all the booths! The potato latkes with perfectly cooked and salted well. The plant based sauce on top was perfectly creamy to balance out the dense and salty latkes. 10/10 for me!
I also decided to try the Blue Cosmo Cocktail here (after I had finally finished my margarita from Mexico LOL). I really liked this drink! It was sweet, but not too sweet, and kind of tasted like blue raspberry punch to me. Another 10/10!
Although I really enjoyed my experience eating around the world at the Festival of the Holidays, I will say that there were far less options available to me in comparison to the Food & Wine festival. However, I liked the food at the Festival of the Holidays more. I would suggest that if you have food allergies, sensitivities, or dietary restrictions to inquire about the ingredients at each food booth before you order to make sure you can have the select offerings. Additionally, most of the food booths are run by outside vendors who do not have the same allergy friendly offerings as Disney owned booths and restaurants do.
I’ll make sure to keep this blog post updated when I try more food! There were several booths I wasn’t able to get to.
Here’s to living our best and most delicious Disney lives! <3
~ Meagan
Meagan has been living with many food allergies and sensitivities since she was 19 years old. She is currently a Personal Vacation Advisor for Magical Vacation Planner, specializing in helping her guests book trips to Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort. Meagan enjoys researching fitness and nutrition and has taken a special interest in finding allergy friendly options at Walt Disney World.
Interested in having Meagan help you plan your next trip? Send her an email at m.slone@magicalvacationplanner.com or get a free quote at https://magicalvacationplanner.com/staff/meagan-slone/!
