The G stands for garden and what better way to get others excited about this Festival, than to add food from the garden!  Seems like a natural fit-right?  It wasn’t always  so, the food I mean.

Through the years, there had been talk, brainstorms, talk, more brainstorms and more talk.  But in late 2012, the Epcot Leadership took a chance and pushed the concept of outside ‘kitchen gardens’ through. When the 2013 F&G Festival opened, there were eleven outdoor kitchens preparing food for guests to purchase, similar to the fall Food & Wine event.  That has now reached eighteen outdoor kitchens and a dedicated year-around Culinary Team dreaming up magical culinary dishes for us to try.

Enough history, let’s get to the food!

How many people have a ‘cool’ location to work, like I do?  Lunch is a walk in the park……………….figuratively and literally.   We can take our time enjoying the Festival, leisurely stopping at a few outdoor kitchens and walk again the next day (or next week) to try a few more tasty tidbits.   Here are a few of my favorite highlights from this year’s F&G Festival.

One of our first treats from the Pineapple Promenade was the violet lemonade and spicy hot dog with ‘goop’.  Okay, using the word ‘goop’ would probably give the culinary team a heart attack, but this was a messy dish to eat.  Be prepared.  LOVE the edible pansy flower blooms in the lemonade and really, who can resist sipping on a lavender colored drink.

Across the promenade is The Citrus Blossom kitchen.  While we have tasted all three of the savory dishes, I only captured photos of the of the tuna and chicken.  And to tell the whole truth……..we’ve been back to have the tuna and chicken.  🙂  With this photo, I noticed the citrus shortcake on the menu – hmmmm, may have to make a return trip and try that.

Trowel & Trellis, come on, what a cute name.  While many guests purchase the corn on the cob which is cooked behind the outdoor kitchen, right on-stage, we chose the other two offerings.  Notice that little ‘V’ at the end of the Farmhouse Meatball description, this item is all vegetarian – no thank you.  It was served like a taco to keep all of the ingredients together.  The sweet item is very imaginative.  Not really one of my favorite items to taste and after a few spoonfuls, gave it to my eating partners.

An inside location called Arbor at the Gardeners Terrace, provides a chance to get away from the heat – uncommonly warm on the day we were eating.  We ordered all of three of the food options.  I really enjoyed the fried green tomatoes, but didn’t feel they were anything extra special.  A friend got the salmon and loved it.  I tried a bit of it and while it was tasty, it’s not something I would order again, personally.

The dessert however, keeps growing on me.  Yes, this is another place that has already warranted a second visit.  I really, really like the sorbet that topped the crumb cake.

I’m finishing with a tried and true culinary  stop – The Smokehouse.  I have photos of the top item and the bottom item listed below.  On-stage is a smoker that only enhances the smoky flavor of the meat as the smoke permeates the on-stage eating area.

This is one of my absolute favorite desserts from this festival:  warm chocolate cake, warm caramel sauce, topped with pecans – yum, just yum.

And how can you top that – you can’t.

 

Ginny