Best Dining Deal of 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine

One of the booths with an all-new menu at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival is Earth Eats. You might expect this Global Marketplace to, as the name suggests, offer a variety of items from…the earth. This Walt Disney World dining review will take a look at what it actually serves up with menu prices, food photos, and thoughts on what’s worth your money or Disney Dining Plan credits.

Earth Eats itself is not a new booth. It’s been around for several years, during which time its concepts have really bounced around. Up until recently, Earth Eats has basically the conduit for promoting Disney’s partnership with Impossible. This corporate alliance makes Impossible Burger’s products the preferred plant-based “meat” of Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, and the Disney Cruise Line.

Thankfully, that’s no longer the case. While I don’t necessarily have anything against Impossible–to the contrary, there have been plenty of good versions of it at the parks–the way Disney has integrated it in the last couple of years has left a lot to be desired. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Earth Eats booth in Disney California Adventure this year (they’ve got one, too), which served up IMPOSSIBLE Chicken Parm Bites and IMPOSSIBLE Beef Stroganoff. Without exaggeration, these were two of the worst things I’ve ever eaten at any Disney theme park. (Google them–the photos don’t lie!) I’d like to think these abysmal dishes at DCA killed the IMPOSSIBLE menu at EPCOT’s Earth Eats, too.

Anyway, here’s the menu for Earth Eats:

And our photos and reviews of the foods at Earth Eats…

Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib ($8.50) – This beef short rib is served atop a bed of goat cheese polenta and puttanesca sauce, and is garnished with shaved pecorino, and petit herbs.

This dish is it. The best value of the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. That might sound like a bold claim given its $8.50 price tag and the photo above. Let’s take another look…

Here you can see just how much meat is in that hunk of short rib, as well as the quality. It falls apart when cut with the fork, and is incredibly tender, flavorful, and juicy. Equally as significant, it has a little bit of fat for flavor, but not so much as to render any of the meat inedible.

While the puttanesca sauce is there for flavor, I felt no need to touch this until I was done with the meat. Thankfully, both stood on their own–the puttanesca sauce had chunks of tomatoes and vegetables, plus the perfect acidity and garlic level. Then there was the goat cheese polenta, which was absolutely heavenly–rich and creamy and with just the right amount of earthiness. (Fitting given the booth name!)

I’ve had beef short rib from Walt Disney World table service restaurants that wasn’t this good or ambitious, and was only slightly larger–for triple or quadruple the price. (Seriously. I just reviewed the $70 Halloween Party Meal at Be Our Guest Restaurant, and the short rib I ordered there was only a bit bigger and better!) The size of this booth’s portion coupled with the quality is what makes this the best value dish at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival.

This is highly recommended whether you’re paying out of pocket or on the Disney Dining Plan (it is a fantastic use of a snack credit). I’ll be getting this again and again; it’s a great substitute for a counter service meal, especially when paired with a dish or two from Harvest Hollow. This is EPCOT festival food at its best–nuanced flavor and attention to detail, while still being approachable for everyone. The Red Wine-braised Beef Short Rib belongs at the very top of your list of dishes to order.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake ($4.50) – This poppy seed cake with lemon icing is fine.

It’s sizable given the price, doesn’t fumble the execution (meaning it’s not too dry). But it’s also nothing special or memorable. Get it if you “need” dessert or love lemon poppy cake, but it’s safely skippable otherwise.

Ultimately, it’s great to see Earth Eats move away from food “grown” in a lab–the antithesis of its name.

It’s also fantastic that they’re serving up the beef short rib, the best bang-for-buck at the 2024 EPCOT Food & Wine Festival. Given that dish alone, it’s tough to be too critical here.

Still, I’d love for Earth Eats to be more ambitious, especially given its new location right outside the Land pavilion. Imagine this being the actual plant-based food booth, with a rotating menu and/or dishes with ingredients sourced from the Living with the Land greenhouses.

There’s so much potential for a booth like this, especially at an event that leans heavily into meats and heavier dishes. But at the very least, this is a big step in the right direction. Maybe in 2025, Earth Eats can grow a larger and even more ambitious menu!

Check out our Global Marketplace Booth Menus & Photos for the EPCOT Food & Wine Festival Booth Menus post if you want to see and read more about every menu this year! You’ll also want to read our full 2024 EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival Guide before you go to get an idea of what to do, strategy for the festival (yes, you will need a strategy), and much more!

Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!

YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of the Earth Eats booth? Have you tried either of the dishes at this food studio? Any thoughts on these items? Portion-size or quality-wise, did you have better or worse luck than us with what you ordered? Questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!