Best new foods at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2023

This year’s Epcot International Food and Wine Festival began on July 27, 2023. We tried every new item to be able to give you advice on which were the best new foods at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival to try.

With over 200 food and beverage items at Epcot for the International Food and Wine Festival, deciding what to eat at the festival booths can be overwhelming. Many of the items for this event return from previous years, which helps make it a little easier.

This year, the event created over 20 new food items for guests to enjoy. In a feat of strength or foolishness (you decide), we tried all the new food items on opening day of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. Since the media event occurred on the previous day, this gave us some direction to start our quest to eat every new food item. We took it from there.

We paced ourselves over about six hours. After that, we took time to decide which items qualified as the best.

Best New Foods at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival

Dark Chocolate Fondue with Berries, Pound Cake, and Meringues – $5.50

Our first best new food item comes from the Alps Marketplace in the World Showcase area of Epcot. This booth resides near the Norway Pavilion. This chocolate fondue served as the only new item at this booth. Still, we found it very enjoyable.

This festival food item is for you if you enjoy above-average dark chocolate. You receive a sizeable container of dark chocolate to dip into. Of course, dipping items into chocolate is fun, but can be messy. We encourage being careful with this festival item.

We found the chocolate fondue very sweet. The chocolate comes with some small pieces of pound cake, berries, and solid pieces of meringue. The pound cake pieces work nicely paired with the chocolate. In addition, the berries work well, as would be expected. However, the meringues make the best pairing with the chocolate.

This new festival food item made a good value for under $6. Still, as long as the ingredients remain fresh and well-prepared, this new item will shine as a flavor-filled item that most guests will enjoy. As a bonus, this item qualifies as vegan.

Italian Hot Beef Sandwich with Shaved Beef, Spicy Giardiniera, and Au Jus on a French Roll – $7.50

Despite the ridiculously long title, this sandwich deserves some attention. For those of us based in the Midwest, the Italian Beef Sandwich serves as a staple of fast-casual dining. With places like Portillo’s being commonplace in the Midwest, Italian beef sandwiches function as a popular item.

Nevertheless, the Walt Disney World chefs devised a solid Italian beef sandwich for festival guests. The sauce contains plenty of flavor. If you are used to the dipped Italian beef sandwich, this sauce works well. You will have plenty if you order this.

The giardiniera dressing provides a robust flavor for this sandwich. We enjoyed the spice also. Still, the spice should be manageable for guests familiar with this sandwich style. The beef soaks up that giardiniera flavor to enhance the overall sandwich. Also, since the beef comes prepared after some brining or marinating, lack of taste will not be a concern.

We found this sandwich a satisfying food option. Though we have concerns about the potential deterioration of the preparation quality as the festival continues, this sandwich earned a position on the best list.

For our final two best new food items at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, both make it for being above average items and unique. We selected the Pickle Milkshake from Brew-Wing Labs at the Odyssey and the Plant-Based Impossible Moussaka at the Greece booth. Each item offers unexpected flavors for festival food.

Pickle Milkshake – $5.75

The Pickle Milkshake from the Muppet-themed Brew-Wing Labs area combines two stereotypical food cravings of pregnant women. Though we tasted a more distinct dill flavor than a traditional pickle, the milkshake contains a pickle-like flavor. Though you need to like dill flavoring, this combination works. As one person said, this milkshake tastes like we would expect an Epcot experimental food to taste, in a good way. A friend who doesn’t really like pickles also liked this shake. The Pickle Milkshake also comes in a reusable cup.

Plant-Based Impossible Moussaka – $5.50

This festival dish surprised us. Even though some in our group expressed texture issues with the moussaka, the flavors within earned a spot on the best list. Some guests compared this item to a shepherd’s or pot pie.

The moussaka consists of potatoes, cheese, vegetables, Impossible meat, and a slightly sweet sauce. Some compared the sauce to a curry sauce.

We found the Impossible product within this dish very flavorful. The components presented to guests with this moussaka are above average quality in all cases. If guests can overcome the confusion about what it is and its texture, this Food and Wine menu item will appeal to vegan and non-vegan diners alike.

Conclusions

Those are our choices for the best new foods at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2023. Nonetheless, food festivals by nature involve the quality of food items changing as the event continues. Your results and tastes may vary. Since this festival runs until Nov. 18, 2023, changes should be expected. Either way, the longest festival of the year at Epcot provides guests with ample opportunity to enjoy many the festival’s foods.

Are you planning to attend the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival? Which items did you enjoy or are looking forward to trying? Let us know in the comments below.