Tomato soup in a Warhol-inspired soup can. Art deco-inspired Valrhona chocolate pyramids washed in muted orchid. Roasted bone marrow studded with mushrooms and mache lettuce, an edible window box.
The food at Epcot’s youngest festival has evolved some since its debut in 2017, says Epcot International Festival of the Arts chef Kevin Downing.
“We’ve tried to elevate the offerings. Push the boundaries a little. Give this event its own identity and figure out the culinary story we’re trying to tell.”
It’s a long story, even if you only measure the festival by its new offerings. Running now through Feb. 21, there’s plenty of time — in particular for pass holders — to pop in for multiple visits and tick off that lengthy list.
Early smashes this year include the plant-based blood orange-braised beet carpaccio (available at Gourmet Landscapes — the same food studio where you’ll find that bone marrow) and the housemade chorizo and potato empanada at Vibrante & Vivido: Encanto Cocina.
“It’s been the surprise hit of the festival so far,” says Downing, who notes that the festival’s past empanada offerings haven’t gotten the same level of response. “The chorizo is housemade, so we’re very happy about that. … The item is tied to ‘Encanto;’ taking food items that were showcased in the film and bringing them to life in the food studio has been a big draw.”
Almost everyone leaving the studio’s counter was toting this colorful and generously sized pocket with splashed-on colors in the form of turmeric and annatto aioli.
Returning items — short rib, scallops, others — are reinvented.
“The best thing about this festival is that we can keep things, but change the presentation,” Downing notes. “It’s been interesting to watch it evolve. When it started, it was only a few days a week but now, as with every festival, it’s gotten busier and busier and so we have to find that line between showcasing the culinary art and talent and that eye for detail and the number of guests who want to sample. We need to be able to produce dishes in a large quantity — so that’s the challenge.”
Well met in dishes like that roasted bone marrow, which deftly demonstrates its link to the studio’s landscape theme — and the style called en plein-air, wherein artists paint scenes outdoors.
“The food in this case is something you can consider part of the landscape,” says Downing. “Truffles and mushrooms and things you’d consider foraged, that have the look of coming right out of the forest ground.”
At Pastoral Palate, near Germany, dishes like the wild boar cassoulet encapsulate heartiness inspired from the decorative painting style on the buildings, “a very old-world, peasant, farm-style art.”
The bonus of bringing elevated styles and ingredients, Downing notes, is that it brings items into play that many culinary cast members have neither seen nor worked with before.
“I’d never have thought we’d see something like bone marrow on a festival menu out of a food studio,” he marvels. “That’s an item you’d find at a Disney signature restaurant.”
It’s exciting to be able to bring such things to the figurative table, he says, and to see the guests’ interest in exploring new dishes as they continue to tell the story of this unique festival as it blossoms.
Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com.
