The Taste of EPCOT International Festival of the Arts Is a Visual AND Culinary Feast

A celebration of the visual, performing and culinary arts, the Taste of EPCOT International Festival of the Arts is in full swing at Walt Disney World now through Feb. 22, 2021. Celebrating its fifth anniversary, the festival bears the "Taste of" moniker applied to all of EPCOT's "modified" post-reopening festivals, but it feels anything but watered down. A slew of new menu items, what feels like more art on display than ever, and lots of interactive experiences make EPCOT's latest festival a true feast for the senses. Here's a closer look at all there is to see, hear and taste at this year's Festival of the Arts.

Festival Markets throughout EPCOT are jam-packed with artwork on display and available for purchase in a variety of mediums and at a range of price points. Guests will even have the opportunity to meet some of the artists in person and observe them in action.

Have more than enough T-shirts and mugs? Art-loving festivalgoers savor the opportunity to pick up souvenirs to display at home showcasing scenes from "the most magical place on earth."

From inexpensive poster prints to wallet-busting works like this table from Wyland Galleries, priced at just shy of $35,000, there's a piece for every budget.

If you'd rather look at it than buy art and just want to take home that T-shirt or pin to remember this year's fifth-anniversary festival, there's plenty of the usual merchandise on offer.

In addition to the Festival Markets, guests will stumble upon temporary art installations throughout the park.

Colorful chalk art lines the main thoroughfare between Future World and World Showcase.

More chalk drawings adorn walls and buildings throughout World Showcase, with favorite characters appearing in their respective countries. Spot Lumiere in France, Robin Hood in the UK, Mushu in China, and more.

Expression Section is an interactive paint-by-number mural that invites guests to put their own stamp on a collaborative work of art created by Walt Disney Imagineers.

Guests can get a cup of paint and add their mark (while safely distanced from other guests) to several numbered squares. Guests can also brush up on their artistic abilities during Animation Academy sessions where they'll learn to draw a Disney character with the help of an animation pro.

Photo spots throughout the park put guests inside some of the world's most famous paintings for fun-and funny-photo ops.

As EPCOT's massive transformation continues, construction walls, playfully nicknamed "progress walls" by Disney, become photo backdrops. Colorful butterfly wings line many of the walls, and guests can channel their inner Figment in front of a set of horns and wings.

The purple dragon with a cult following and his own ride, Journey Into Imagination With Figment, is the festival's iconic mascot, appearing on signage and souvenir merch.

EPCOT's festivals always feature a scavenger hunt, perfect for keeping kids moving around World Showcase. Participate in Figment's Brush With the Masters by picking up a map at select merchandise locations for $7.99.

The mischievous dragon has found his way into famous works of art hung throughout World Showcase. Find them all and collect your prize.

Choose from one of four paper doll characters plus a colorful Spaceship Earth as your prize for completing the scavenger hunt.

All of EPCOT's festivals feature mouthwatering special menus served up at numerous festival kitchens, but the items served at Festival of the Arts food studios take it to the next level with inventive dishes that are almost too pretty to eat. Vibrante & Vívido, a food studio that's brand new to this year's festival, celebrates the colorful cuisine of South America with dishes like Chilled Seafood Cocktail with octopus, scallops, shrimp, black garlic aïoli, tomato-coconut sauce and serrano-lime oil, Blue Corn Pupusa stuffed with cheese and topped with shredded pork, guajillo and Arbol chile sauce, cabbage slaw and aji Amarillo crema, and this Passion Fruit Mousse with dragon fruit jam.

The runaway hit of the festival from day one, Pop Eats! is making all your childhood lunch dreams come true with two new menu items this year, Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup with French Onion and Bacon Grilled Cheese. The golden-brown grilled cheese is savory and satisfying dunked in the bright and tangy tomato soup.

Walt Disney World has continually upped its plant-based meat game, and Plant-based Bratwurst with spicy turmeric aïoli, coffee barbecue jackfruit, and slaw will definitely fill you up. Crispy, colorful slaw and slightly sweet jackfruit enhance the flavorful brat that's similar to vegan brats served elsewhere on Walt Disney World property. Save room for the Warm Brown Sugar-stuffed Pretzel with banana soft-serve ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert!

A sort of culinary scavenger hunt, this walk takes you in search of some of the most colorful dishes on the menu at this year's festival. Collect a stamp each time you purchase one of five artistic dishes. Buy them all and you'll be rewarded with a complimentary artist's palette cookie. The 'Wonderful Walk' features savory items and sweet desserts like this Pistachio Cake with cherry mousse and morello cherries. Try it at The Painter's Palate in World Showplace.

The famous Pixar rat chef Remy is really having a moment. From unexpected TikTok stardom to a new ride, Remy's Ratatouille Adventure, set to open at EPCOT in 2021, Remy and his famous dish are everywhere. Sample Remy's Ratatouille, made with eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, tomatoes, and red pepper piperade. Also part of the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine, the dish is available at the Festival Favorites food studio at World Showplace.

For a decadent shift from the plant-based ratatouille, the France pavilion's food studio, L'Art de la Cuisine Française is serving up another festival highlight, the Crème de Brie en Petit Pain: warm creamy brie in a house-made bread bowl. Every bit as mouthwatering as it sounds, this dish is perfectly executed-the bread is fresh with a crispy crust and chewy interior, and the brie is smooth and creamy. If you have your heart set on this one, make sure to get there early, it's been running out by late afternoon!

New this year at L'Art de la Cuisine Française is a Black Winter Truffle Croissant. Served warm, the croissant is crisp on the outside and filled with a creamy, savory, truffle-infused filling. Remy would approve.

Before leaving the France pavilion, guests will want to take notice of the nearly complete pavilion expansion. Construction walls have recently been replaced with hedges, allowing for a little peek beneath the new Ratatouille sign at the area that will soon be home to Remy's Ratatouille Adventure ride and new restaurant Le Creperie de Paris.

Over at the Goshiki food studio within the Japan pavilion, check out one of the most playful dishes at the festival, the Sushi Donut: donut-shaped sushi featuring salmon, tuna, shrimp, cucumber, and sesame seed served with wasabi aïoli, sriracha, and eel sauce.

If sushi donuts aren't your style, try the Vegetable Gyoza, vegetable-filled spinach gyoza atop mashed potatoes with a kamaboko fish cake, pepper strings and tonkatsu teriyaki sauce. (Vegetarians can ask for theirs without the fish cake!) Wash it down with a Masu Sake in a traditional, personalized wooden cup.

An everchanging lineup of frozen cocktails is a hallmark of EPCOT festivals. The Frozen Rusty Nail Cocktail from Painter's Palate in World Showplace comes with a hefty $15 price tag, but also packs a boozy punch making you feel you're getting your money's worth. It's made with bourbon and tea and finished with a chocolate "nail."

Mosaic Canteen at the Morocco pavilion features a colorful lineup including the Mouskoutchou: an orange cake with a cinnamon-chocolate mouse, another item on the Wonderful Walk of Colorful Cuisine. Earn your dessert by eating your veggies first with the Mediterranean Flatbread, made with za'atar pesto, artichokes, roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes and fennel cream.

Inside World Showplace, guests can watch a work of art come together-to music-in a matter of minutes. Visual Art in Performance showtimes are at 12:30 pm and 5 pm. Also in World Showplace, Art Defying Gravity celebrates physical strength and movement to music. Showtimes at 1:30pm, 2:20pm, 3:20pm, 4:10pm.

Voices of Liberty are performing a brand-new collection, putting their melodious spin on classic Disney songs from favorite films like Moana, Brave, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, and more. Catch them in the America Gardens Theatre at 3:05 pm; 4:45 pm, 5:50 pm, and 6:50 pm. And over on the Mill Stage in the Canada pavilion, the JAMMitors drop their signature rhythmic beats hourly from 12:30 pm to 6:40 pm.

Disney has regularly updated safety guidelines in response to the evolving pandemic, particularly with respect to the ongoing tightening of mask rules and requirements. Guests over the age of 2 must wear a face covering at all times except when eating or drinking and must be stationary and at a 6 ft. physical distance from other guests. Rules have also recently been updated to prohibit food and drink past a certain point in ride queues, even when guests are stationary, so don't plan to bring those festival drinks and snacks with you in line.

Beginning on Jan. 1, 2021, Walt Disney World reinstated Park Hopping, once again allowing guests with an Annual Pass or Park Hopper ticket to visit more than one park per day. A Park Pass reservation is required for guests to visit their first park of the day. After 2 pm, guests are free to visit additional parks, provided there is availability. Park Hopping to EPCOT for a few afternoons or evenings during a vacation gives guests an opportunity to sample more of the many dishes and experiences offered during the Festival of the Arts.