Thursday, September 1, 2011

Even Vegans Eat Like Royalty in the Magic Kingdom Part 4 of 4

The finale!!!!


Continued from Even Vegans Eat Like Royalty in the Magic Kingdom Part 3 of 4
By: Amy Shoff (Guest Writer)

The park maps have a little apple icon next to restaurants that feature “well-balanced and vegetarian options.” But if you’re unsure, never hesitate to ask any of those super nice people with the Disney nametags on. If they don’t know the answer to your question, they find someone who does know the answer. I know this because I used to be one of those people, so seriously, NEVER hesitate to ask for allergy information, ingredients, or just general recommendations on where to eat and what to order. You can see online menus for most of the locations, although some are listed as “sample menus,” because the offerings change on a fairly regular basis, and they may not have the exact dishes if you’re planning your trip a year ahead of time. WDW’s reservation website actually asks you if anyone in your party has any food allergies, and if you indicate that you do, then the chef of that restaurant will personally visit your table to find out what you can and cannot eat and will adjust their recipe and even use a different cooking station to prepare your food, if needed.

The last meal of my trip features one such magical example of this. I went to The Wave Restaurant at the Contemporary Resort  for breakfast on the last day before I had to fly home.  This restaurant is very focused on organic foods, using seasonal and local produce when they can, as well as serving free-trade, bird friendly coffee (I had no idea that the usual eight cups of coffee I drink everyday are actually UNfriendly to birds…my bad, Birds.) The Wave had a breakfast buffet that was loaded with fresh fruit, including local peaches that looked amazing, and steel-cut oatmeal, so I felt pretty okay with just ordering that, but I asked our wonderful waitress, Beth, if the Buckwheat Mickey Waffles (there’s almost no food item at WDW that can’t be made into the shape of Mickey Mouse) or Sweet Potato Pancakes were vegan. She went back to the kitchen to find out for me, and returned with the news that although they weren’t, Dylan, the awesome chef, had offered to make either vegan pancakes or a tofu scramble for me instead. I jumped at the chance for pancakes, because I am a pancake-eating fiend, and man, oh man…they were fluffy and vanilla flavored and I couldn’t shovel them into my face fast enough!  Dylan walked them out to me in person, so I took a picture with him (I get really excited when people cook food for me), but sadly, the inferior photo taking abilities of my iPhone resulted in "Picture Fail". But thank you for capping off a tour de force of vegan-riffic eating, Beth and Dylan!

As I mentioned before, Walt Disney World is enormous, and I’ve barely scraped the surface of the dining options available here, but rest assured, if you are vegan, vegetarian, a food allergy sufferer, or just a food conscious carnivore, you will be blown away by the dining experiences on your trip. And if you pay me in cupcakes and beer, I’ll be happy to come along as your tour guide!

Author: Amy Shoff (Disney Insider Vegan Expert)

Thank you Amy for that awesome account of "some" of the great Vegan delights to be found at Walt Disney World!  Perhaps I can get Amy back for round two after her next visit to the magical kingdom...if The Healthy Hoff had any kind of a budget, we could send Amy on assignment!  Alas, we have none (sigh).


In case you missed any part of this 4 part series:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

2 comments:

  1. "if The Healthy Hoff had any kind of a budget, we could send Amy on assignment!"

    Wait...so, you're saying I have to cancel that 14-day trip to Tokyo Disneyland that I just charged to your credit card?! Aw, crud.

    ReplyDelete