New Cooking Demos For Epcot's 2015 Flower & Garden Festival
Posted on February 20th, 2015
| Mealtrip
I have always said that it's not a "garden festival" if I can't eat what's growing. So not only are we glad to hear that the Outdoor Kitchens (i.e. food booths) will be returning for this year's Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot, and (drum roll please…) a NEW cooking demonstration series has been introduced as well.While we don't have too much information about these new Flower and Garden Festival Cooking Demonstrations, we have heard that they will be taking place at the entrance to World Showplace, at the Port of Call gift shop. The "cooking" demo (being very careful not to call them "culinary" demos) will take place at 3pm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday only. The one-time-only-at-3pm demo will feature a Disney chef preparing one of the items that are being served at the Outdoor Kitchen food booths.
A Piggylicious Bacon Cupcake (left photo) from The Smokehouse kiosk; the Ghost Pepper-dusted Tilapia (top right photo) was one of our favorites last year; and Epcot Events Chef Derick Messenger prepares a roasted Spaghetti Squash at a culinary demo.
We know what you going to ask next… will there be free samples? My guess is no... in fact, almost definitely not. Even the samples that the chefs will be preparing won't be handed out, because demonstration kitchens are not usually "cleared" to prepare food for guests. We have heard items such as the Piggylicious Bacon Cupcake and the Ghost Pepper-dusted Tilapia (which were a couple of our favorites from last year) will be just a couple of the dishes that will be highlighted. Those items are also conveniently featured in the cookbook, "A Taste of Epcot - Festival Food From Around the Globe", which will be available for purchase at the Port of Call gift shop.
For those that remember the wee early days of Epcot's Food and Wine Festival, culinary demos were initially held outdoors, in and around World Showcase. This new series nostalgically reminds me of those events. We are not really sure if the demos are to be held just outside the Port of Call gift shop, or not… but I for one can't really see 100+ people packing "into" the Port of Call gift shop. We probably won't know more until the very first cooking demonstration happens.
We will be there to bring you some of the first photos from the event, so please be sure to check back here at Mealtrip.com just after the Flower and Garden Festival begins.
Our Festival & Event Food rating system will once again be updated and open just after the Flower and Garden Festival begins as well.
It's a great way to see ALL of the items being offered at the kiosks. You can download a PDF checklist (with prices) just after the festival opens and even save the items you want to try into your very own "Must Try List". The Must Try List keeps track of which booths you'll need to visit to try all your items, and even has a running total cost estimator, so you know how much money you'll need to try all of your items.
