bon appetit

Bonjour! While "vegan" is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of French food, I was pleasantly surprised to find a couple of goodies at the gift shop in Epcot's France pavilion.

First, if you're in the mood for an adult beverage, there is a rather unique offering at a kiosk here, by the water - the unmistakable bright orange frozen concoction called a Grand Marnier Orange Slush (or, as I call it, "that orange slushie thing in France"). Sorry - haven't managed to get a good photo of this one yet, but you'll know it when you see it. I have yet to give it a try, but some folks say they are very tasty. Others think it's a bit too sweet. I suspect that curiosity will win out on a future trip. They're not cheap, but then this is Disney.

As for the gift shop, I had fun picking up all the little food items and reading labels. There are bins full of hard candies - most vegan (as long as you're not worried about sugar, or the usual "may contain traces of..." message):


Here's a close-up of the raspberry-filled ones:


They also had some hard strawberry candies in a cute little tin. (Why is it that candy is so much more fun in cute little tins?)


And I was pleasantly surprised to find some dairy-free dark chocolate:


... as well as some more fancy chocolates in a cute tin:

Description and ingredients for above listed as: 15 Dark Chocolate Squares with Cocoa Beans, Cocoa 70% minimum. Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, roasted cocoa beans 8%, emulsifiers: soya lecithin, E476. May contain traces of egg, milk, wheat, shell nuts.) Okay, I confess that I had to look up what E476 meant - but the Internet says it's vegan. :-)

Last but not least, I found a lovely confit. Aside from the fact that it clearly recommends you pair it with some goat cheese, it is basically just fruit and nuts. (Ingredients: figs 50.5%, fruit sugars, cane sugar, white wine from Pays D'Oc, walnuts 1.7%, fruit pectin, concentrated lemon juice. Okay... not sure about that white wine. Please feel free to correct me if that's a questionable item.)


Add a nice baguette, and you could have yourself a very French little picnic here. And when you're done, be sure to check out the Impressions de France. The film may not be the most exciting, but the music is beautiful, the seats are comfy, and the theater is air-conditioned.

Bonsoir mes amis.