Disney4me Posted 1 hour ago Report Posted 1 hour ago The EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival is almost here, and Disney has FINALLY released the menus. The 2026 festival runs from August 27th through November 21st, giving us nearly three months to roam around World Showcase carrying tiny plates, tiny forks, and increasingly complicated opinions about cheese. EPCOT Food & Wine Festival And this year is a big one. Food & Wine is celebrating its 30th anniversary, with Disney bringing back or reimagining 30 dishes from festivals past. Naturally, we went straight to the menus to see what was new. But we also noticed something very important. A LOT of things we loved in 2025 are coming back. And when we say loved, we mean several of these dishes landed on our Best of the Fest list last year. So while we’ll be at EPCOT opening day trying all the brand-new snacks because somebody has to make these sacrifices, there are already a few returning dishes we can tell you about. We’ve eaten them. We have opinions. Some of them should probably already be on your list. Here are 8 returning EPCOT Food & Wine Festival snacks we tried last year that are coming back in 2026. Street Corn-style Dumplings Gyozas of the Galaxy was one of the biggest surprises of the 2025 festival, and thankfully, our favorite dish from the booth is returning. The Street Corn-style Dumplings are chicken dumplings topped with tomatillo salsa verde, street corn salad, cotija cheese, lime crema, and cilantro. Last year, we basically described these as elote in dumpling form, and that assessment still feels extremely correct. Street Corn-style Dumplings There’s a LOT happening on this little plate, but it works. You get toasted corn, creamy cotija, tangy lime, salsa verde, and a tender dumpling underneath the whole operation. The toppings aren’t just decorative confetti, either. They bring enough street corn flavor that the dish actually delivers on its slightly bonkers premise. Street Corn-style Dumplings These were our favorite dumplings at the booth in 2025, and we’re very happy Disney resisted the urge to fiddle with a good thing. Put this one near the top of the list. Click here to check out our review of Gyozas of the Galaxy Kirschwasser Torte The Alps gave us one of our favorite NEW desserts of 2025, and she lives to see another festival. The Kirschwasser Torte is made with cherry-brandy buttercream, fondant, sugared almonds, and cherry compote. This is not a shy dessert. Kirschwasser Torte It’s rich, sweet, VERY icing-forward, and absolutely meant for the person who considers frosting an important food group. But the tart cherries help rein everything in, while the sugared almonds bring some much-needed crunch. Inside the torte We also discovered something important last year. It gets even better as it starts to soften in the Florida heat. Which is fortunate, because Florida will happily begin melting it approximately nine seconds after it leaves the booth. The Kirschwasser Torte landed near the top of our Best of the Fest picks in 2025, so dessert people, take note. Read Our Review of The Alps Here Basque Cheesecake Spain’s Basque Cheesecake with orange sauce is returning for 2026, and we are not mad about it. We loved the texture of this one last year. It was wonderfully creamy without turning crumbly or dry, and the orange sauce brought enough citrus to brighten everything up without making the dessert taste like somebody dropped a cheesecake into a glass of orange juice. Basque Cheesecake Little pieces of orange peel in the sauce added some extra zing, too. It was one of the best new dishes we tried at the 2025 festival, and it’s exactly the kind of dessert we like at Food & Wine. Interesting enough to feel like a festival snack, but straightforward enough that you actually want to finish the whole thing. Read Our Review of the Spain booth here Brioche aux Epices avec une Garniture Mornay de Trois Fromages Yes, the name is a mouthful. The brioche will also be a mouthful, and THAT part we wholeheartedly endorse. France is bringing back its spiced brioche with three-cheese mornay filling, and this was one of the dishes that absolutely knocked us sideways in 2025. Brioche aux Epices Avec Une Garniture Mornay de Trois Fromages In fact, at the time, we said it might be one of the best things we’ve ever eaten at an EPCOT festival. That is not praise we throw around because somebody handed us warm bread. The brioche was soft and moist, the spices were aromatic without overpowering the bread, and then there was that warm, creamy three-cheese filling tucked inside. Brioche aux Epices Avec Une Garniture Mornay de Trois Fromages Bread. Cheese. France. Sometimes the universe provides. This is probably the returning dish we’re MOST excited to revisit in 2026, both because it was so good last year and because we need to make sure we weren’t briefly hypnotized by mornay sauce. Read Our Review of France Here Grilled Cider-brined Pork Tenderloin Bramblewood Bites is returning with its Grilled Cider-brined Pork Tenderloin, served with chili-apple butter, celeriac-apple slaw, and apple cider gastrique. And yes, there are a LOT of apples involved. No, it doesn’t taste like someone dumped an orchard onto a pork chop. Grilled Cider-brined Pork Tenderloin This dish was a returning favorite even in 2025, and it continued earning its spot on our Best of the Fest list. The pork was tender and juicy with a nice char from the grill, while the apple slaw added freshness and crunch. That sweet-savory combination is really where this dish earns its keep. Grilled Cider-brined Pork Tenderloin Food & Wine portions can sometimes skew toward “three bites and a dream,” but a dish like this also feels substantial enough to help break up an afternoon of desserts and cocktails. We’re glad to see it back. Read Our Review of Bramblewood Bites Here Pumpkin-Mascarpone Ravioli Pumpkin season is apparently arriving in Florida whether the temperature agrees or not. The Pumpkin-Mascarpone Ravioli returns to Forest & Field with brown butter vinaigrette, pecorino cheese, pomegranate seeds, and hazelnut praline. We loved this dish in 2025 because it manages to juggle a whole collection of fall flavors without becoming a pumpkin spice candle you can eat. Pumpkin-Mascarpone Ravioli The ravioli itself was tender and cheesy, while the brown butter brought that rich, nutty flavor that pumpkin LOVES. Then the hazelnut praline added a little sweetness to balance the earthier elements. The pomegranate seeds also help cut through all that richness. Pumpkin Mascarpone Ravioli This is one of those dishes where you read the ingredient list and wonder if everybody is going to get along. Somehow, they do. It landed among our returning Best of the Fest picks last year, and Disney has kept the 2026 version looking remarkably familiar. Excellent. No notes. Read our review of Forest & Field Pão de Queijo Look. It is cheese bread. We could probably stop there. Brazil’s beloved Pão de Queijo is officially returning in 2026, and this is one of the most reliable Food & Wine Festival snacks around. These Brazilian cheese breads are light and airy while still delivering plenty of cheesy flavor, which is one reason we keep coming back to them year after year. Pão de Queijo They’re also a nice option when you want something savory without immediately committing your stomach to one of the festival’s heavier meat-and-potato situations. Last year, Pão de Queijo once again earned a spot among our returning Best of the Fest choices. At this point, we’d be more surprised if Disney DIDN’T bring it back. And yes, we will eat it again. This is research. Read our full review of the Brazil booth Cheddar and Bacon Soup Canada knows what it has. Why mess with it? The Cheddar and Bacon Soup served with a pretzel roll is returning to the Canada booth for the 2026 festival. This is basically the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival version of an old friend who shows up every year wearing the exact same sweater. You know what’s coming, and you’re still happy to see them. Cheddar and Bacon Soup The soup gives you plenty of creamy beer-cheese flavor with smoky bacon running throughout, plus that soft pretzel bread for dipping. It’s also an easy way to get a taste of one of the flavors closely associated with Le Cellier without sitting down for a full table-service meal. Cheddar and Bacon Soup We called this one a must for cheese lovers in 2025, and that hasn’t changed. Would we necessarily choose piping-hot cheese soup during a 94-degree EPCOT afternoon? Maybe more frequently in air conditioning. Would we eat it again anyway? Obviously. Read our full review of the Canada booth We Already Have a Head Start on 2026 There are plenty of NEW dishes on the 2026 EPCOT Food & Wine menus that we haven’t tried yet, and believe us, we are coming for them. But there is something comforting about spotting so many of our 2025 Best of the Fest picks back on the menu. The Street Corn-style Dumplings and France’s three-cheese brioche are probably the two we’d prioritize first based on last year’s experience, while the Basque Cheesecake, pork tenderloin, and Pumpkin-Mascarpone Ravioli are very close behind. And then there are those dependable festival staples like Pão de Queijo and Canada’s cheese soup, patiently waiting to ruin whatever carefully constructed snack budget you made before entering EPCOT. Of course, festival food can change from year to year. Portions shift. Recipes get tweaked. Sometimes a dish we adored one year comes back with a completely different attitude. So we’ll be trying these again during the 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival to see if they still deserve their spots among the best. And, more importantly, we’ll be eating EVERYTHING new so you don’t have to gamble your snack money blindly. Keep checking back with DFB as we bring you reviews, photos, prices, Best of the Fest picks, and everything else you need to know about the 2026 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival! CONFIRMED: Almost 100 New Menu Items Coming To The 2026 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Read More About EPCOT's Food & WIne Festival We Tried 8 Snacks Coming to the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival in 20266 Booths With Delayed Openings At The EPCOT Food & Wine FestivalCONFIRMED: Almost 100 New Menu Items Coming To The 2026 EPCOT Food & Wine FestivalThe 2026 EPCOT Food and Wine Menus Are HERE!This $30 EPCOT Splurge Is Becoming a Yearly Tradition for Me Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe! WE KNOW DISNEY. YOU CAN, TOO. Oh boy, planning a Disney trip can be quite the adventure, and we totally get it! But fear not, dear friends, we compiled EVERYTHING you need (and the things to avoid!) to plan the ULTIMATE Disney vacation. Whether you're a rookie or a seasoned pro, our insider tips and tricks will have you exploring the parks like never before. So come along with us, and get planning your most magical vacation ever! GET YOUR GUIDE NOW Which returning Food & Wine dish are you happiest to see on the 2026 menus? Tell us in the comments! View the full article Quote
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