OK, you may not be able to pronounce them but we’ve found several unique dishes worth tasting at this year’s Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. Each treat may take you out of your “comfort zone” of flavors but as we learned in a recent post about sampling new wines, this is the Festival to live a little and branch out. So, here are our top five unfamiliar dishes:
Farofa –
Served in the Rio de Janeiro marketplace, farofa is a coarse, toasted flour made from corn or yucca. It looks a lot like couscous and can be used in the same way to make stuffing or a side dish. Farofa can also be sprinkled over meat just before eating and that’s how it’s done at Epcot – a grilled pork skewer is rolled in farofa to add flavor and a little crunch.
Gulab Juman–
Almost every culture has a sweet treat built around fried dough – donuts, beignets, loukoumades. At the New Delhi marketplace, gulab juman is made with rounds of browned sweet dough and topped with rose syrup and ground pistachios. Gulab juman is also a traditional dessert for celebrations.
Barramundi –
Popular in Australia with both sport fishers and diners, barramundi is a mild and flaky white-fleshed fish also know as the Australian seabass. In the Melbourne marketplace, a barramundi is served atop a salad of arugula, cherry tomatoes, and lemon oil.
Lamington –
Also in the Melbourne marketplace, Lamington is a cube of butter cake, covered in chocolate frosting and shaved coconut. Popular in both Australia and New Zealand, the square cake is named after the second Baron of Lamington, Charles Cochrane-Baillie. One version of the story goes that Lamingtons were invented when guests unexpectedly arrived for tea and the chef had to improvise with ingredients in the pantry.
Landjäeger –
Available in The Brewer’s Collection marketplace, landjäeger is a dried sausage from Germany and Switzerland. Similar to salami or pepperoni, the word “landjäeger” literally translates as “country hunters.” It’s a popular snack with hunters and hikers because, like beef jerky, it can be carried without refrigeration.
Do you have any foods to add to our “must try” list?
Comments
Yum, Landjäeger. Slim Jim’s done well…hehe. Atleast I have a Czech butcher close to my house to get me over my sadness of not being able to make it for Food & Wine this year…almost.
Was there a little over five weeks ago. Did the Food & Wine Festival the weekend of Sept 26/27. The things I sampled that I would love to have again are:
Canada: tried and loved both the cheese soup and the chicken sausage. They are even tasty together (dipped the sausage in the soup).
Paris: the Chocolate Milk Creme Brulee was sublime. Had a serving on both Saturday and Sunday.
Melbourne: the Grilled Lamb Chop was wonderful
Austria: had to have the Paprika Beef Stew with Bacon Dumplings thanks to Germany/Hungarian ancestry. Quite tasty.
The Spicy Chicken Sausage with Sweet Corn Polenta is pretty tasty.
Thanks, Brian. I need to try this.
Interesting food…not sure if I would like them all but it would be worth a try. Thanks!
The Fisherman’s Pie in the Ireland kiosk is AMAZING. It’s a new addition this year – like a seafood version of shepard’s pie. Mmmmmmm……..
But wondering how I missed the Lamington…. 🙁
Man, now I’m hungry! It all looks so tasty!
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