There is no shortage of places to find food at Disney World’s numerous parks, resorts, and destination spots. Eating vegetarian or with other dietary needs is also pretty easy but your options tend to align with fruit or chips at the food stalls and a veggie burger, fries, and ice cream at the counter service shops. For the really delectable stuff, for meals created just for you and usually by a head chef, you’ll have to call ahead and make reservations at one of Disney World’s ‘Table Service’ restaurants.
I am perpetually amazed at how accommodating and friendly the Disney staff is no matter how many ‘buts’, ‘ifs’ and ‘is this ok’s’ you throw at them. Problem is, we had no idea until the day we were in Animal Kingdom that that was the park we would go to first and when we’d find ourselves famished. Katy was ready to call and make reservations months before we ever left for Florida but I didn’t want to be tied to an appointment. I may have sabotaged things a little because I did know that whenever we would find ourselves at Animal Kingom, Tusker House would be the place for our big meal of the day. I loved it in 2009 and our return trip in 2010 was no less amazing and hunger-appeasing.
Considered by Disney as a top-tier ‘Table Service’ restaurant, Tusker House is unique in that it’s a really huge buffet. You’ll typically have to check in, hang on to a buzzer and wait for an open table (unless, of course, you make reservations) but once you’re inside every fresh, warm plate is fair game! The accommodations are huge with two massive dining rooms (comfortably) packed with tables and chairs and an equally large serving area decorated like an open air market. Five bays of buffet tables line the walls, serving everything from African dishes to Mediterranean fare and plenty of “American” food for those non-adventurous types. In the middle is yet another buffet, a gazeebo filled with trays of delicious desserts, pies, cake and cookies!
There are two things that make Tusker House my favorite place to eat at Disney World. One, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet so despite the $15-$30 entry fee you can stuff yourself silly, stay as long as you like and take advantage of refillable, non-alcoholic drinks. But more critical than anything is the variety of food. Nowhere else at Disney World have I found so many vegetarian options in one place, and none of it requires arranging a special menu or custom dishes (though I’m sure they’d be happy to help you out if you asked). Pearl couscous with basil, Tandoori tofu, Hummus and baba ghanoush, vegetable samosas, and tons of breads, dips and sauces sit alongside cuts of meat, potato wedges, corn dog bites and dishes of cooked vegetables. There’s plenty to taste and try and — given enough return trips and the overflowing dessert buffet — more than enough food for everyone.
I admit, we slacked from being vegan on this trip and didn’t verify ingredients before diving in so I can still only say that Tusker House is a great vegetarian smörgåsbord with what looks like an equally great selection of truly vegan food. Still my favorite meal at Disney World!
This cucumber kimchi recipe was so easy to make especially since I already had the Korean brand red chili flakes (handy in cooking in general). We had a bunch of cucumbers from Farm Fresh Delivery that were starting to go bad. I was thinking I wanted to make dill pickles out of them, but then kimchi popped into my head instead. The thing about kimchi versus dill pickles, for me at least, is kimchi almost always sounds good, but dill pickles I need to be in the mood for. I swear I should’ve been born Korean 
My mp3 player thinks I was!
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