2023 Epcot International Festival of the Arts Vegan Food Guide

The 2023 Epcot International Festival of the Arts opened Friday, January 13, 2023 at the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida, running through February 20, 2023, and this is your complete guide to vegan food offerings at this year’s event.

This year the Disney Broadway series is returning along with the usual photo ops, mosaic painting, chalk art and Figment scavenger hunt. Celebrating its 7th anniversary, the Festival of the Arts usually features less food items than other Epcot festivals such as the longer running Epcot International Food and Wine Festival and Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival. We have updated the post below with the 2023 vegan items and will be updating items throughout the festival if anything changes, so be sure to bookmark this page and check back, and follow us on @VeganDisneyFood on Instagram for the latest news!

Despite the previous limited vegan offerings, this year we have quite a few, and, this festival is so much more than food! It’s a veritable cornucopia of culinary, visual and performing arts. Even with some changes this year, it’s still one of our favorite EPCOT festivals. You can read more about the complete festival offerings on the official Disney website.

For now, let’s focus on the vegan eats. 

Epcot International Festival of the Arts Vegan Food Guide

We attended the opening day of the Festival and tracked down ALL the vegan offerings at this year’s Festival of the Arts. If you’d like, you can check out our video review of all the vegan items below as well which includes my live reviews of all the vegan options at the EPCOT Festival of the Arts. Be sure to like and subscribe to know when we upload a new vegan video!

This year (2023) we have many more options than last year’s 3 vegan items on the menus. 

New this year is the Moderne booth over by Test Track:

Moderne (Near Test Track)

• Compressed Watermelon Tataki with pickled watermelon rind, yuzu pearls, watermelon foam, and wasabi (New) (Plant-based Item) – $4.75

For me, this dish was just so-so. There are amazing things that can be done with watermelon in place of tuna for sushi and other items, but this, sadly was basically just watermelon with the toppings and wasabi added. It was fun to eat, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to get it again. 

Another new booth this year – Figment’s Inspiration Station at the Odyssey: Art, Food, and Little Sparks of Magic (that just rolls of the tongue, right? – I’ll give them a pass because Figment)

Figment’s Inspiration Station at the Odyssey: Art, Food, and Little Sparks of Magic

• Fruit Pizza: Watermelon, compressed cantaloupe, berries, and berry balsamic (New) (Plant-based Item) (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly) – $3.75

We were told this was “vegan white chocolate” but were not able to confirm a brand or the ingredients. So we’ll have to trust Disney here, or you can ask for it without, if you get this. Personally, I would not waste my time in line or money on this again. Especially since at the end of the night, I was seeing the size of the watermelon slices and they were probably half the size of what you see above. It’s just watermelon with berries on top. The compressed cantaloupe was the best part, but not worth waiting in line again. 

Despite this lackluster vegan option, be sure to explore the Odyssey during this festival. Figment’s Inspiration Station features some of the original projections that were used in the Journey into Imagination ride and an original Figment figure as well as the pin tables from the Image Works. My childhood self was in heaven!

And in perhaps the biggest shock of 2023 yet – we have a vegan option in the France booth!!! 

L’Art de la Cuisine Française (France)

• Mille-Feuille de Betteraves aux Herbes et Noix de Cajoux: Plant-based napoleon with beets, cashew-herb filling, pepper-pine nut sauce, and balsamic vinegar caviar (New) (Plant-based Item) – $12.75

Now pull your jaw off the floor and check out the photo of this new dish below:

Sure, it’s more beets, but it’s another option and I’m really excited to see what France has put together. Not so excited to wait in that France line which is always super long and I usually get to avoid completely! 😉  Update – now that we’ve experienced this in person, I can say that it is worth the line, and even worth the outrageous price of $12.75. I know that’s a lot. I know. But the flavors here are incredible. Every bite was an explosion of flavor, and to me, that is worth paying for vs. something that is bland or ordinary. France is known for its culinary creations for a reason, and they really knocked this out of the park. 

Savor stunning dishes artfully composed with the finest ingredients farmed and foraged from the land.

Food:

• Blood Orange-braised Beet Tartare with mustard vinaigrette, pickled clamshell mushrooms, and golden beets (Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine Item) (Plant-based Item) (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly)  –  $5.50 This is slightly different that last year’s Beet Carpaccio which had exactly the same ingredients. 

This replaces a beets dish from last year that was served inside World Showplace. The beets were a love it or hate it item last year (I loved them!) so I’m looking forward to this dish. It did not disappoint this year. The beets are very mustard-vinaigrette-y and the Follow Your Heart blue cheese is again, a modern bit of magic, I really thought it was dairy cheese again at first bite. This is the same crumbles they put on the Brussels Sprouts during Food & Wine. 

Here’s last year’s Beet Carpaccio – so differences now that I see both side to side, last year the beets were sliced, with the mustard dolloped on. This year, they are chopped, and the vinaigrette is mixed in. I think I prefer it this new way for 2023. 

Next up, Tangierine Cafe, which has been a Festival location for the past few festivals now.

Tangierine Café: Flavors of the Medina (Morocco)

Take your taste buds on a Moroccan adventure as you enjoy delectable dishes.
Food:

• Carrots Three Ways: Chermoula-spiced grilled carrots, pickled carrots, and carrot ginger purée (Plant-based item) (Gluten/ Wheat Friendly) – $4.25

I did not have high hopes for this dish, just carrots…how good could it be? But it IS good! The pureed ginger carrots are full of flavor, a bit salty, but when you eat them all together it works. The pickled carrot was also delicious with a tiny kick of spice. The Berbere spiced grilled carrots were also full of flavor and really anchored the dish. Loved it. Updated 2023 review: still enjoyed it. They definitely improved presentation, and portion size. Not sure it will stay that way, but opening night, it looked great. 

BREAKING NEWS! Previously, the Stone Baked Bread and dips from the Tangierine Cafe available during all of the recent festivals had dairy in the bread. During Food & Wine, we were able to switch it for the pita that came with the falafel. But during Flower & Garden and now the Arts festival, there was no pita to replace it. ALL THAT CHANGES NOW! My good friend Karen was just there and confirmed with a chef that there is no dairy in the stone baked bread anymore! We can now enjoy the dips with the bread it was meant to be served with! I can’t wait to get over and order this myself, but until then, enjoy these photos from Karen:

The Stone-baked Moroccan Bread – $5 – is not listed in the EPCOT Festival of the Arts passport booklet, but it is on the menu board outside and inside the Cafe. It comes with hummus, Chermoula (the same spice blend on the grilled carrots), and Zhoug dips. We reviewed these for the vegan EPCOT Food & Wine Festival guide but the Chermoula dip is new with this festival. We have also personally confirmed this change with a chef, who stated that they had SO many complaints/requests for dairy-free bread, they made the change this year! Thanks again to Karen for sharing this news with us.

Returning this year is the Plant-Based Brat from The Refreshment Outpost in between China and Germany .

Order the Plant Based Bratwurst here for $9.50

The Plant-based Bratwurst is topped with a turmeric aioli, coffee barbecue jackfruit and vegan slaw. It came in a warm vegan bun. You’re definitely going to need some napkins for this one. It looked smaller to me this year, but in looking at last year’s photo I think they had reduced the bun size then too. It’s a Beyond brat, so that size isn’t changed. 

This Brat is a major win. The flavors worked well together and the slaw gave the dog great texture. We couldn’t really taste the jackfruit in this dish, in fact, this year on opening day, I think it was just straight up plain jackfruit with no sauce. The aioli is described as spicy but we found it to be rather mellow. It’s a great, filling option.

Also over in the Refreshment Outpost is Dole Whip. They change the flavors out with each festival and for the 2023 Festival of the Arts they are promoting a Salted Caramel Soft Serve, which will not be vegan as it is not Dole Whip. As of opening night, they only have pineapple Dole Whip. The photo below is from last year when they had raspberry as well.

The cones they are currently using are Jagger brand and are confirmed vegan. You can get it in a cup or a cone (or both!). 

The Wonderful Walk of Color stroll again features one vegan item. This passport of colorful food items features 5 available stamps, and like the Cookie Stroll during the Festival of the Holidays, you can get all 5 of the same item, but the “prize” is an artist palette cookie, which is not vegan.

Last year we had one modifiable option – similar to the Giant Tostada from the Festival of the Holidays which can be modified without meat and is vegan. At El Artista Hambriento in Mexico, this year the Huarache Verde is now the Huarache de Champiñones: Guajillo chile and corn masa huarache with pinto beans, oyster mushrooms, Nopales, queso fresco, and pea tendrils – $7.50. It is confirmed vegan if you remove the queso. 

This was absolutely delicious and with only one other hot vegan option (the brat) is a must-get in my opinion. Really simple, really delicious. We did see some inconsistency in the size of the actual huarache, so be aware. 

So last year we had 3 vegan food items at the EPCOT Festival of the Arts, plus the modifiable Huarache, this year we have SIX plus the Huarache. An improvement but many of these still seem like side-items vs, little meals. Of course there’s also the delicious Passion-Coconut smoothie (see below) at the Vibrante & Vívido: Encanto Cocina (Between Morocco & France) booth and the Dole Whip. And that’s it for vegan items at the 2023 EPCOT Festival of the Arts. NOTE for 2023: We did confirm with a chef and viewed the ingredient list and it IS vegan as-is this year. That said, they do change suppliers all the time and it could change over the course of the festival, so please check before ordering on your visit. 

This smoothie is like drinking a thicker, creamier version of POG (Passion, Orange, and Guava) juice that we’ve all come to know and love at the Disney character breakfast locations. This item is a great addition and a refreshingly tart way to add to your Festival of the Arts day. This booth has an Encanto tie-in, and in DCA they offered a vegan arepa, so it’s very disappointing that we didn’t get that option over here as well, especially since they have vegan empanadas at Animal Kingdom now. 

Here is the ingredient list of all the beverages served at that booth:

I just want to take a moment to remember that from 2020-2021, the Goshiki booth in Japan featured Vegetable Gyoza which were modifiable by removing the mashed potatoes. Sadly, they are not being offered again for the 2023 Festival of the Arts. Major sad face. Let’s reminisce…

This was such a fun offering. The gyoza were pan fried so they were a bit crisp on the outside with a tender filling dotted with whole edamame beans. The pepper strings don’t really have much flavor at all and are mostly just decorative, not spicy in the least bit. The Tonkatsu sauce is much more tart than regular teriyaki sauce, you can tell it is made with tangy fruits. SUPER sad this vegan option is not returning to the EPCOT Festival of the Arts again this year for 2023. 

Vegan Confirmed Beer Offerings from the 2022 EPCOT Festival of the Arts (will reconfirm and add new items for 2023 as soon as I get info on them)

We have reached out to the following breweries and confirmed that their beers being offered for the Festival are vegan. We will add to this list as we hear back from more breweries. 

Tangierine Cafe:

• 3 Daughters Chai Hard Cider
• Blake’s Hard Cider Co. – Berry Cranders Hard Cider
• Swilled Dog –  Sangria Hard Cider

Artist’s Table booth:

• Lexington Brewery – Mammoth White Ale 
• Copperpoint Brewing – Analoger Amber Ale
• M.I.A. Beer Co. – Yacht Rock Brown Ale

Craftsman’s Courtyard:

• North Coast Brewing – Blue Star Wheat Beer

Pastoral Palate booth:

• 3 Daughters – Rosé Hard Cider
• 81Bay Brewing Co. – Rosé Blonde Ale

Refreshment Outpost: 

• 81Bay Brewing Co. – Nairobi Coffee Dark Beer

Deconstructed Dish:

• Short’s Brewing – Bellaire Brown Ale

Mexico booth:

• Tulum Artisanal Lager

Canada booth: 

• Weihenstephaner Original Lager

Refreshment Port: 

• Original Sin Brewery – Brighter Times Hard Cider
• Playalinda Brewing Company – Blue Raspberry Blonde

Pop Eats booth:

• Brooklyn Brewery – Pulp Art Hazy IPA

Deco Delights booth:

• 3 Daughters – Strawberry Blonde Nitro
• 81Bay Brewing Co. – Vanilla Porter
• (Sadly the Playalinda Milk Stout has dairy so if you do the Neapolitan Flight ask for 2 of the others)

For cocktails, be sure to ask about honey or dairy if it isn’t listed. For wines, we advise checking Barnivore.com for vegan status. 

Make sure you take time to enjoy all the art displays, including the interactive paint-by-numbers mosaic and photo ops throughout EPCOT. And be sure to watch the TWO Beacons of Magic shows on Spaceship Earth after sunset. There’s a Rainbow Connection one and a Figment one which features almost the whole original ride soundtrack to Journey into Imagination. We’ll have that on our upcoming video soon! 

The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts runs daily January 13th through February 20st, 2023.  Artful EPCOT is included with park admission with a valid park pass (or Park Hopping if available after 2pm). Food samplings are extra and can be purchased a la carte.

Want to save this 2023 EPCOT Festival of the Arts Vegan Guide to your pin board? Click the image below to pin it!

Looking for ALL of the vegan options available at Epcot? Check out our comprehensive guide here: What’s Vegan in Epcot?