Our Favorite Foods at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival [2025]

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is a great time to visit Walt Disney World, as it transforms EPCOT into a foodie playground with global marketplaces serving up creative dishes and drinks. It features adventurous flavors and scavenger hunts for endless sampling and entertainment.

Today, I want to show you the drinks and eats I enjoyed the most during opening week, from a pickle milkshake and spicy wings to stinky Swiss cheese and fruity cheesecakes.

How the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Works

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival runs from August 28 to November 22, 2025. It’s EPCOT’s longest festival of the year, spanning the end of summer until the week before Thanksgiving.

Festival booths are located throughout EPCOT, mostly in and near the World Showcase. They feature international-inspired dishes from the booth’s country. Each booth has its own dishes and vibe, from fall flavors to experimental hot wings.

Picking up a festival passport is a great way to navigate the offerings. This pocket-sized guide has menus and information you can use to plan your next bite.

Hot Tip:

Want to stay close to the action? You can walk or take a short boat ride to the festival from an EPCOT-area resort such as Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Disney’s Yacht Club Resort, and Disney’s BoardWalk Inn.

The Best Dishes at the 2025 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival

Rodizio-Style Grilled Beef Skewer (Flavors from Fire)

Grilled beef with marble potatoes, charred shallots, roasted baby peppers, and chimichurri.

I visited the festival on opening day with my husband, and we started with a savory spot at Flavors from Fire. This was a fantastic introduction to the festival, with an outdoor grill cranking out meat dishes (including a plant-based Impossible slider). We watched as the finishing touches were put on the beef skewer, including a generous helping of chimichurri.

The beef skewers spoiled us fresh out of the gate, because this dish was fantastic. The beef was impossibly tender, juicy, and smoky, and the chimichurri added a bright, tangy flavor. We went back for another one the next day!

Smoked Corned Beef (Flavors from Fire)

House-made potato chips, cheese curds, pickled onions, and beer cheese fondue.

This dish wasn’t on my radar until a maintenance worker overheard me asking my husband what he wanted from the booth. The worker emphatically suggested the “corned beef nachos” and then ducked inside the booth, probably to snag a sample for himself.

Obviously, we were sold, and his recommendation was spot on. The smoked corned beef dish was salty, cheesy, and rich — easily one of the most flavorful dishes we tried. I was impressed that the house-made chips stayed crispy even under the pickled onions and 2 types of cheese.

We paired the corned beef and beef skewer with “Swine Brine,” a cocktail made with Jim Beam Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey, apple-cinnamon cider, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and smoked pork garnish. I had reservations about a cocktail with mustard and meat in it, but honestly, it worked. It was savory, refreshing, and the pork bite was tender.

Unnecessarily Spicy Yet Extremely Tasty Carolina Reaper Pepper-Curry Wings

Hot curry wings with creamy cucumber raita.

The Brew-Wing lab features 4 wing choices (including Impossible chicken tenders with buffalo sauce), but the “unnecessarily spicy” wings are the most distinctive. These wings feature a Carolina Reaper and curry sauce that’s more like a thick paste.

They were indeed unnecessarily spicy, but they were good with a slow burn and a lot of flavor from the curry. The sauce was so pungent that I still smelled it on my fingers hours later, even after using a moist towelette at the table and multiple hand washes. The cucumber raita really toned down the heat, but don’t get caught eating these wings without a proper drink to wash them down. The Brew-Wing Lab has a raspberry tea and multiple beers and ciders available individually or as sampling flights.

Pickle Milk Shake (Brew-Wing Lab at the Odyssey)

Pickle milkshake with whipped cream and coriander.

EPCOT’s pickle milkshake is a divisive dessert, but I’m on Team Pickle once again. This milkshake is weird, and we love it. It’s sweet and creamy with the flavors of pickling spices, including dill and coriander. Some people expect a pickle juice shake, only to be disappointed, but it’s more about the spices than a vinegary, acidic flavor.

This milkshake is a perfect cooling-off treat after the spicy wings, but it’s filling! I recommend sharing with a friend.

Berbere-Spiced Beef Stew (Refreshment Outpost)

Spiced beef stew with sweet potato mealie pap and kachumbari slaw.

The Refreshment Outpost isn’t usually a busy festival kitchen, but I’ve learned not to pass it up because there’s almost always something unique and tasty to try! The berbere-spiced beef stew is one of those dishes with a complex taste. The flavors of the berbere spice carried this dish, bringing smokiness, spice, and earthy notes with a little sweetness.

Warm Raclette Swiss Cheese (The Alps)

Swiss cheese with baby potatoes, cornichons, and a baguette; Emile’s Fromage Montage item.

If you get near the Germany pavilion and wonder why it suddenly smells so bad, you’ve found the Alps booth with Swiss raclette cheese. This melted cheese dish is so stinky that someone turned around to identify the smell as we ate it from a table over. But this smelly cheese is so good, smothering tiny potatoes and cornichons.

The serving tray wasn’t quite large enough to hold it all, especially the baguette, but that made for a fun treasure hunt as we uncovered the potatoes and pickles under all that cheese. The baguette was soft and scored for easy eating.

Schinkennudeln (Germany Pavilion)

Pasta gratin with ham, onions, and cheese; Emile’s Fromage Montage item.

The schinkennudeln is like a German mac-and-cheese casserole, complete with gooey and melty cheese. It had somewhat hard and chewy edges of melted cheese outside with soft pasta and creamy cheese inside. This dish is a good bet if you’re trying to feed picky eaters from festival booths.

We paired the schinkennudeln (which we definitely mispronounced while ordering) with Schöfferhofer berry-lime hefeweizen — a rose-hued take on the grapefruit hefeweizen that’s at the Germany pavilion year-round. The berry-lime version was sweet and refreshing and a good foil for the richness of the cheesy pasta dish, but I still prefer the tart juiciness of the classic grapefruit ale.

Paella Caldoso (Spain Pavilion)

Paella with rock shrimp, bay scallops, and smoked mussels.

I was instantly impressed by this dish’s presentation in a cute mini paella pan and appreciated that the seafood was piled generously on top. My husband took a swipe with a shrimp, scallop, and mussel in one bite and had no regrets. I tried them separately and liked the smoky mussels the best, but all of the seafood was flavorful. The meats were complemented by a brothy saffron rice that pulled it all together.

Gulf Coast-Style Seafood Roll (Flavors of America)

Seafood roll with lobster, rock shrimp, lobster bisque, and sherry creme fraiche on a toasted brioche bun with melted butter.

At first glance, I wasn’t impressed by the seafood roll, as it looked like it was all bread and sauce and not enough seafood. My opinion turned around after biting into it and discovering that the roll was extremely soft and buttery and didn’t overpower the tasty lobster and shrimp inside. It was a little messy to eat but definitely worth it.

Griddled Cheese (Greece Booth)

Griddled cheese with pistachios and honey; Emile’s Fromage Montage item.

This cheese dish from the Greece booth is so simple, but it’s addictive. It’s a slab of seared cheese with honey and crushed pistachios. It was sweet, salty, and a little greasy — in a good way. I’ll never look at the slightly burned bits of a grilled cheese sandwich the same way again.

We paired the griddled cheese with the Greek melon limeade cocktail, which features Kleos Mastiha Spirit, Artonic Melon Apéritif, Pearl Vodka, and lime sour mix. This melonade was tangy and refreshing — an excellent summer drink.

Pineapple Cheesecake (Hawaii Booth)

Pineapple cheesecake with passionfruit curd and macadamia nuts; Emile’s Fromage Montage item.

The pineapple cheesecake is so cute that I didn’t care what it tasted like (though it was enjoyable). Shaped like a pineapple, this cheesecake had a tropical twist with pineapple, passionfruit, and a small sprinkling of macadamia nuts. I wasn’t sure about trying a dense cheesecake in the August Orlando heat, but this dessert was light and had bright flavors.

We paired the cheesecake with the tropical mimosa — another photogenic item at the Hawaii booth accented with an orchid flower. This sweet and fruity drink features sparkling wine and the passionfruit, orange, and guava (POG) juice that Hawaii is known for.

Pumpkin-Marscarpone Ravioli (Forest & Field)

Pumpkin-marscarpone ravioli with brown butter vinaigrette, pecorino cheese, pomegranate seeds, and hazelnut praline; Emile’s Fromage Montage item.

The ravioli was one of my favorite dishes last year and is still on my must-try list for the festival. It puts fall flavors into a tasty pasta dish, with pumpkin and warm spices in a buttery pasta. It’s topped with pomegranate seeds for brightness, and I loved the subtle crunchiness of the hazelnut pralines. Although we enjoyed this in the heat, I bet it will be even more satisfying when cooler fall weather reaches Orlando.

Schiacciata Sandwich (Forest & Field)

Mortadella, prosciutto ham, sun-dried peppers, arugula, stracciatella cheese, fall squash mostarda, and pistachio pesto on warm focaccia.

I hadn’t planned to order this sandwich but changed my mind after the person ordering in front of me raved about it and saved me from missing out. This sandwich was a generous portion for a festival dish and had a good balance of savory and sweet. With so many ingredients, every bite was a little bit different. It was tough to put my finger on what it reminded me of, as it had elements of muffaletta and caprese sandwiches, but I liked everything it had going on.

Fall Fruit Cheesecake (Milled & Mulled)

Cheesecake featuring Boursin fig and balsamic cheese with pomegranates and candied pecans; Emile’s Fromage Montage item.

Another cheesecake? I wasn’t sure I’d be up for rich fall flavors, but this dessert won me over. It was sweet and not overly dense, and it was accompanied by fresh figs and a caramel-like sauce. I didn’t get much balsamic flavor from this, but the candied pecans and fall fruits were the main draw of the dish.

Side Quests at the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival

The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival offers more than just eating and drinking, though there’s plenty of that. It has fun side quests, including a cheese challenge with a treat and scavenger hunts for Remy (from “Ratatouille”) and Disney pumpkins.

The foodie challenge for EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is Emile’s Fromage Montage. You get stamps in the back of the festival passport each time you order a cheese dish that’s part of the challenge. Get 5 stamps, and you can stop by the Shimmering Sips booth to pick up a completer treat.

We filled our festival passport with cheese stamps for the challenge, which earned us a completer treat. This treat is a swirl of lime and vanilla Dole Whip with graham cracker crumbs. My husband, a Key lime pie enthusiast, argued that this should have been all lime, but I liked the balance of tart and creamy between the lime and vanilla.

Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak is a scavenger hunt for the festival. Look for Remy and collect ingredients on the festival scavenger hunt map, which is available for $11.99 in EPCOT gift shops. Once you’ve found every Remy statue, you can bring your map to a gift shop to choose a completer prize bento box.

Most of EPCOT’s festivals only have a single scavenger hunt, but the Food & Wine Festival has 2. With Pluto’s Pumpkin Pursuit, you can find Disney pumpkins throughout the park and mark them off on the map, which is available at gift shops for $11.99. Once you find all of the Disney-inspired pumpkins in the park, you can pick up your mini cornhole board prize.

Final Thoughts

Eating around the Food & Wine Festival is one of my favorite ways to experience EPCOT. We enjoyed a great variety of dishes with creative flavors and returning favorites, from juicy beef skewers to cheese on the Fromage Montage. Portions were shareable and surprisingly filling, so I recommend splitting dishes and pacing yourself throughout the day — or visiting for multiple days like we did.

Though we enjoyed great eats and drinks at the festival, there’s more to look forward to, as the Coastal Eats and Gyozas of the Galaxy booths open on September 28.

We’re eyeing the seaside pot pie, ceviche, and dumplings from these booths.