Family, travel, mom blog | Theme Park Mom (Leigh Caldwell)

Beef empanadas are served at the Rio de Janeiro kiosk during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

Sing it with me: It’s the most wonderful time of the year…

The EPCOT International Food and Wine Festival begins today at Walt Disney World. Themed food kiosks ring the World Showcase, where you can buy a small plate of everything from sushi to arepas to exotic ice cream. Many of the foods are paired with international wines.

The items at the International Food and Wine Festival cost an average of $4 to $5.

All this good eating and merriment continues through Nov. 8.

And while it would make a fabulous date night, many of us will be bringing our kids with us to Disney World’s annual food fest. So what is there for a kid to do (and eat)?

My 6-year-old daughter and I checked out Epcot’s soft opening last night. Here are my tips for enjoying the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival with children:

1. 

   The acrobats perform several times a day outside Epcot's China Pavilion.

   Prepare the kids for a food adventure. Talk about the special event that will be going on at Epcot before you reach the gates. Tell your kids about the great opportunity to eat around the world, and discuss how fun it will be to try all the different flavors. If your kids are young enough that they may not know the concept of ethnic foods, talk about the ethnic foods (or Americanized versions of ethnic foods) you already eat (tacos, lasagna, stir fry) and what countries they come from.

2. Adopt a laissez faire attitude about what they are eating. For this one day, I try not to care what my child is eating, as long as she’s willing to try new things. So what if she chooses more dessert items than entree items during the course of one day? Isn’t that what a food adventure is all about?
3. Make it a game. Bring along notebooks for tasting journals – older kids can photograph the food they are eating and make notes about it; younger kids can draw pictures of the food and note (with your help) how it smells or tastes. Of you could mark all the countries you’ve sampled on a small world map you’re carrying with you.
4. Don’t forget to stop for diversions along the way. As interested as you may be in reading all the wine tasting notes posted outside various kiosks, your kids’ interest in the food and wine festival will have its limits. Don’t forget all the other Disney magic available around you. Pose for a picture with Donald Duck in Mexico. Carry your plates over to watch the acrobats in China or the Taiko drummers in Japan. Pause for 15 minutes to watch the trains in Germany.
5. Get your groove on at Eat to the Beat concerts. My daughter loves the idea that she’s going to a concert – don’t forget to schedule time to watch the performer of the day at America Gardens Theater.

So what is there for kids to eat at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival? Plenty. I asked my daughter to rank her five favorite tastes from the 2009 edition of the festival:

Maple sugar candy is a kid-friendly favorite available at the Montreal, Canada kiosk during the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

1. Chocolate Milk Creme Brulee at Paris, France
2. Mango Lassi at New Delhi, India
3. Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi at Krakow, Poland
4. Canadian Cheddar Cheese Soup at Montreal, Canada
5. Maple Sugar Candy at Montreal, Canada

So bring the kids this year! And let me know what they liked to eat best.

The kielbasa and pierogi were my daughter's favorite savory taste at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival.

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Cat Cora talks about her new restuarant, Kouzzina, at Disney's Boardwalk. She's with Disney Parks President Al Weiss.

Celebrity chef Cat Cora opened her new restaurant, Kouzzina, at Walt Disney World’s Boardwalk on Thursday.

I tasted many of the dishes on the menu at a media lunch. So, here’s a look at some of the food at Kouzzina:

Spiro's Greek salad at Kouzzina

Spiro’s Greek Salad is a pretty combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, Kalamata olives, a wedge of feta and just a touch of arugula underneath it all. It was (more…)

I featured Brute Wolf and family from Tulsa, Okla., earlier this summer, after I happened to see their inventive Orlando vacation video. “The Wolfs Dance Orlando” was set to the song “Life Is a Highway.”

I was thrilled to find out this morning that the Wolfs have made a sequel to that video after visiting Branson, Mo. and the Silver Dollar City there. Without futher adieu, I give you “The Wolfs Dance Branson”:

Brute says he shot the footage with a Sony HDR-XR500V camcorder. Underwater portions were shot with an Olympus 1030 SW water-resistant camera. The project was edited with iMovie ‘09. Earlier this summer, Brute was kind enough to answer my questions about how he produces these fun family souvenirs, and he makes it look easy!

If you and your kids are missing Shamu Stadium, you can get a glimpse of it tomorrow on the season premiere of FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman.

The first episode of the new season focuses on communication, and Ruff sends two of his FETCHers to Sea World, to work with a killer whale trainer and Shamu. Along the way, the children learn about communicating with the ocean’s largest predator.

If you haven’t checked out Fetch with your kids, it’s a very inventive show. My daughter enjoys science, and the show deals with scientific principles in a fun way. You can find the time FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman airs in your area at the PBS Kids Web site.