I Carried a Bag Full of Chestnuts Around EPCOT All Day. No Offense Squirrels, I Just Don’t Get the Appeal.

Festival of the Holidays has officially kicked off in EPCOT, and we have been BUSY showing you everything there is to experience at the most holly jolly EPCOT festival of the year.

There are lots of different entertainment offerings to explore (including an incredible Glimmering Greenhouses tour that takes you behind the scenes of one of my favorite rides, Living With The Land, while it’s decorated for the holidays!), but the real star of any EPCOT festival is the food! Being vegan, my options are a little different, but the Chestnuts and Good Cheer Booth has some great vegan-friendly options I couldn’t wait to try out. Let’s just say, though, that part of my experience didn’t go as planned.

The one thing that really intrigued me was the Roasted Chestnuts, which are truly roasted over an open fire! A bag costs $6.25, and I was really looking forward to trying this classic holiday option.

While the team and I enjoyed the salty, roasted flavor of the chestnuts, the thing with chestnuts is that you’re not supposed to eat the outside of them, only the inside. And when I tell you these were nearly impossible to break open, that’s not an exaggeration.

AllEars Myranda and I visited this booth together, and she wasn’t a fan of them at all. I think you’ll enjoy them if you’re a fan of chestnuts, but I discovered here that chestnuts aren’t my favorite (I much preferred the Cinnamon-glazed Pecans and Cinnamon-glazed Cashews for $6 each here, and there are Cinnamon-glazed Almonds available too).

Not wanting to be wasteful, though, I stuck them in my bag to carry around with me for the ENTIRE rest of the day as I covered other parts of the festival, thinking I would reach for them throughout the day as a little snack. Well, that never happened, so instead, I just walked around the whole day with a bag of chestnuts IN my bag, and yes, it did make my bag smell just like Christmas.

At the end of my day, I did break one open again, and surprisingly, I think the flavor and texture improved after sitting all day! Unfortunately, the chestnuts were even HARDER to break it open, so that was pretty ironic. Let’s just say that these are an acquired taste…and I really tried my best to like them.

It also left my hands pretty covered in chestnut residue, so you’ll likely want to wash your hands pretty frequently if you’re snacking on these throughout the day. Overall? Chestnuts? Pretty weird. I don’t see the appeal — sorry, squirrels!