“Brandon’s (Disneyland: Recipes & Stories from the Happiest Place on Earth) new cookbook is something to celebrate. She and the Disney chefs have gone deep into the theme parks’ vaults to bring back favorite memories—and meals—from festivals, beginning with EPCOT’s earliest iterations of the International Flower & Garden Festival, which blossomed the same year as the first International Festival of Holidays, followed a few years later by the International Food & Wine Festival. Home cooks can stir up old memories with recipes for everything from elegant dishes (duck and dumpling) to California fusion, including a Korean fried chicken slider and simple yet gorgeous golden beet salad, to the happy endings—Celebration Chocolate Fudge brownies, maple-bacon whoopie pies, and even a gluten-free buttermilk cake. While most of these recipes are fairly complex, the ingredients are accessible and the instructions are clear. VERDICT A book that readers will pick up as much for the photos and the recipe headnotes, with history of when the dishes were served at the Disney theme parks, as for the recipes themselves. This will whet Disney fans’ appetite for a return visit.”
—Emily Bowles, Library Journal (LJ), October 2024 issue