Ryan and I had such a great experience at Taste of the Nation in Orlando last year that we were incredibly excited to attend the event again last night.
Taste of the Nation events take place all over the United States (you can find an event in your area here) and raise money to prevent childhood hunger. Attendees sample incredible food and drinks prepared by local leading restaurants and 100 percent of ticket sales benefit Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger in America.
Since last year’s event was our first experience at a Taste of the Nation soiree, this year we went into the evening knowing full well that it would be an incredible night filled with some of the best food in Central Florida, fantastic drinks and lots of fun entertainment.
We drove to the Orlando Marroitt World Center in the early evening ready to dive into the amazing culinary selections.
When we arrived, we checked in and said hello to Maria, the sweet woman who invited us to attend the event along with some other Orlando bloggers and journalists. (While our tickets were free, Ryan and I made sure to make a donation to Share Our Strength prior to attending.) Maria told us that more than 2,000 people were expected at the event! Somehow it never felt overcrowded and we never felt like we were waiting in crazy lines to sample food. The layout was perfect.
Almost immediately after walking into the event, we ran into Ricky and Pearleen, the fantastic bloggers behind Tasty Chomps and Mega Yummo, two Orlando food blogs that review local restaurants and dining events in the area.
Over the course of the evening also saw fellow bloggers Katy, Carolina and Katie which was great! Katy is looking just as gorgeous as she was at her baby shower with her beautiful baby bump. I can’t wait to meet her baby girl!
After examining all of the auction items on a long table that attendees could bid on throughout the evening, Ryan and I decided it was go time and headed off to sample the food.
We went into the evening with the same strategy as last year: Eat entrée-style samples first and then eat dessert. We abandoned the strategy about five samples in last year, but this year we held strong!
Heaven.
During our first visit to all of the restaurant stations, we focused on the savory fare and the samples were out of this world. It wasn’t too hard to ignore dessert for an hour or so when you had plates that looked like this in front of you:
That was a taco from Emeril’s Tchoup Chop and I couldn’t get over the “bun.” The chef said it was bread that was steamed rather than baked. It was doughy and so, so good.
Ryan and I had a good time discussing the food and agreed that our top three favorite entrée-style dishes included:
- JW Marriott Orlando Grand Lakes: Sausage with crispy black-eyed peas served on a sweet corn puree
- Universal Orlando: Braised Creekstone Farms beef short rib in a cabernet sauce over wild mushroom truffle risotto
(Sorry I hate half of it before remembering to snap a picture!)
- B.B. King’s: Shrimp and grits
My favorite drink of the evening was Magners Irish pear cider.
It’s a winner every time.
Before moving onto desserts, I must also give a shout out to one of my favorite foodie finds of the evening.
We’ll call this bread heaven!
The Olde Hearth Bread Company had an amazing display of breads, rolls and granola and I fell in love with their cranberry walnut bread.
Dessert is always my favorite part of any fantastic dining experience and there was no shortage of sweets at this event.
Universal Orlando had a stunning display and I loved their chocolate truffle tart.
Without a doubt, my favorite dessert of the evening was Chef Jean Louis’ bananas foster.
I heard people rave about this dessert last year and somehow missed it, so I made sure to get my hands on it this year and it did not disappoint.
Once the ice cream started melting into the warm, buttery bananas, it was magical.
Ryan and I drove back to Ocala feeling full and happy. Taste of the Nation is easily one of my favorite events of the year and it was, yet again, a very memorable night!
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A full belly is a happy belly- all looks great!
Bananas Foster may be the most amazing dessert invention ever. Sounds like a fun event all around.
Looks incredible!!! Do you have the Magners Berry over their yet? Pear is amazing (we call it Bulmers in Ireland for some reason…different brand name outside of the country!)
I’ve never seen the Berry flavor!
i’ve never seen the berry flavor either!
Here it is ! Pear is better though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcNJp_vX5rg Do you have kopperberg in the US? They have loads of different flavour ciders!
Looks like you had a blast! Can’t wait to see your fashion post! 🙂
This event looks incredible! It’s called Taste of the Beach when it comes here to the Outer Banks, but it doesn’t look like nearly as big of a production as it is in Orlando! Regardless, an awesome night for a great cause 🙂 Also I hope you’re doing a fashion post on that dress!
That really looks like a great event – I LOVE sampling tons of different things! And I’m going to look into the cider – I’m always looking for good gf drinks!
Two things:
1. I have learned that I cannot be around buffets of desserts. Hurricane Paula would have swooped through and cleared that table out leaving a wake of devasation that would take months to clean up.
2. You look pretty. 🙂
Wow, that looks amazing. We live in Kansas, and the closest events are (unfortunately) Minneapolis and Chicago! Oh well.
wow….so much delicious looking food!
What an amazing event! I wish we had one close to us in Pensacola!
Whattan awesum event! Grear food and makin a differrnce?! 🙂 and im loving the dessert layout its gorgeous!
Love old hearth bread co. I used to eat amazing bear claws from that place.
It threw me off this morning to see someone I KNOW on your blog! I got to the picture of Ricky and it threw me for a loop this morning 😉 Fun to have my blog reading and real worlds combine into one!
Okay, that looks so delicious. AND where did you get your dress? It’s just lovely on you! 🙂
Wow Wow Wow is all I can say!
I am dying to try the steamed bun, was it completely our of this world???
Aww, Julie, you look so perfectly in your element. Made me smile. Looks like an amazing event! …and now, I want all of that bread please.
sounds like such an amazing and delicious event! i am obsessed with bananas foster..its my favorite dessert!
Always a pleasure Julie!!!
Those sweets look mouth watering — especially the one with the M&M’s! The banana foster looks delicious as well. It’s funny how I used to not be a huge fan of bananas (unless it was a banana runt =]), but now I can hardly go a day without mixing them into something I eat!
Looks like a great event and love your dress!
Everything looks delicious! I’m going to have to remember to look up the closest Taste of the Nation next year!
How fun! Reminds me of Taste of Chicago 🙂
Everything looks delicious, especially that bananas foster! I always wanted to attend a Taste of the Nation but unfortunately Central PA is severely lacking one. I think a State College Taste of the Nation would be amazing! There’s so much good food here!
I can’t believe this is like 500 dollars 😮
If I had the opportunity to experience all of that amazing looking food…..I THINK I WOULD HAVE HAD TO CREATE MY POST IN ALL CAPS….cuz that’s how darn excited I would be. 🙂
And you look fantastic! Thanks for sharing such a great night.
It looks SO amazing. I’m really jealous!
Everything there looks so delicious!! I’m jealous, to say the least!
I love that bread company’s display. Looks really good! 🙂
What a blast! It seems like such a fun event; I really need to look into these events around LA. Thanks for all the photos, too–amazing creations! Glad you had fun 🙂
I love this event. I had to miss it this year due to a work trip but I cannot wait to go again.
Ahhh, that looks like so much fun! I really hope I will be able to attend next year!
It looks like so much fun, I wish that Taste of the Nation would come to Indianapolis!
Ohmygoodness — It must have smelled absolutely AMAZING in that banquet hall!! (And obviously it looks like it tasted fabulous!)
What a great cause! Do you know of a contact who might know of a similar program affiliation in Canada by any chance?
Two words: foodie heaven.
Of all those good eats, shockingly the thing I would want to try the most is the irish pear cider!!!!!
That looks awesome! It’s making me hungry ahha, maybe I should go have brekky 😛
That dress is the bomb! 😉
Looks like a lot of fun! I love how your dress this year is so similar to last year’s dress in it’s shape…do you do a loose fitting dress to fit in more goodies? 😉 Both dresses looked great on you!
Irish pear cider is one of the best things about Britain. Can’t wait to move back to England soon and drink my bodyweight in it!
LOVE IT!!! We just did something similar at the university where Jason (the hubs; ryans cousin) teaches culinary arts…Keiser University!!! You would have loved it!! And the dress is freaking awesome…what a fantastical color! ! !
Looks like a great time! I honestly don’t know how you get all that food in your little body! 🙂
Where did get your dress?
Despite the fact that I easily eat a banana a day (at least) I’ve never tried bananas foster. That’s just tragic.
It was so nice to see you! And yes, I’m still thinking about the bananas foster, they were so good I may have to try to recreate them. Amazing!
So so fun!! I’m so jealous … I would love to attend something like this. I remember in college, I got to attend a chocolate event that was similar, but it was (obviously) all chocolate. It was wonderful! 😉
What a fun event! i’m going to check and see if there is one in Michigan 🙂
This looks like such a fun event and all of the food looks amazing!
The event looks like so much fun! I searched for one in my area but it looks like sadly there are none coming up right now.
I was actually just reading about the steamed buns on another blog the other day! Apparently they have their own little niche and there are entire restaurants dedicated to sweet and savory sandwiches served on them.
All that food looks so delicious! I love how they’re so artfully arranged… makes them look even more tasty! I have a question… how do you go to these type of events and not overeat? 🙂 I tend to avoid these because I can never stop! I need advice.
I looove these types of events (meaning it has to do with lots of delicious food hahaha)..and it’s for a great cause! Win, win.. I’m going to search for Taste of the Nation in my area. Seems like it would make for a fun and unique date night!
Ahh what a fun event, I truly LOVE stuff like that! And leaving with a full belly is the only way to 😉 I would probably have enjoyed the walnut cranberry bread too, that is a favorite combo for me!