By Alison Stateman
Disney fans were given a delectable taste of Disneyland treats to come Friday at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. The panel, “Disney Eats: Disneyland Foods – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow,” moderated by Pam Brandon, co-author of the Official Disney Parks Cookbook series, was chock-full of fascinating tidbits from Disneyland chefs John State, Culinary Director, Disneyland Resort; Jimmy Weita, Executive Chef; and Graciela Gomez, pastry sous chef at the Central Bakery at Disneyland Resort.
Each shared their personal journey leading to their culinary careers at The Happiest Place on Earth and how they honor Walt’s legacy while continuing to elevate park offerings.
Slate was a chef in Northern California when Disney recruited him to open the Flying Fish Cafe at Disney’s BoardWalk at Walt Disney World Resort in 1995, where he was part of the opening team that planned and designed the restaurant. “It felt like I was joining the Olympic team, like I was joining an energy level of talent and skill that was going to continue to elevate our brand. It was already well-established but there was just room to keep growing,” he shared. “You mentioned evolution [in food] at Disney World and that’s what I saw. I could just see the rising ships; high tides rise all ships. I could just see the energy was contagious.”
State joined Disneyland Resort in 2015 where he was instrumental in developing new food and beverage concepts. “When I started at Disneyland Resort, I became the coach of the Olympic team. I had the opportunity to have chef Jimmy on my team, who is an incredible think tank. A good coach just guides the talent. They were already telling good stories, but we needed to help amplify their voice a little bit,” he continued.
The central focus on storytelling at Disney extends not just to the entertainment it creates, but to its embodiment at Disney Parks in attractions, shows, parades, and, yes, the food and drink generations of parkgoers have come to enjoy. “Storytelling is the heart of it all. Even with dining on day one of Disneyland Park, we were serving prime rib on Main Street, U.S.A.—that legacy with dining certainly impacts what you do today,” Brandon pointed out.
“I think I have the coolest culinary position at the resort because I’m not tied to a restaurant, necessarily,” said Weita, oversees the Festivals and Park Events Culinary Team—researching, developing, and executing Disneyland festivals and all park-catered events. “We really have the ability to push the envelope.”
While guests might want to feel and taste and have the experience Walt did back in the day, Weita and his team work on translating food from the 1950s to today’s tastes. “Walt was very big on canned chili. He used to walk around the park with canned chili and he also liked short ribs, so we developed an item for one of our events where we put it in a plastic tin can and it was chili beans and short ribs. When you ate it, you could almost feel like this probably was like what he had, but [our version was] very current and relevant. It was a lot of fun to put our twist on what he may have had.”
Weita, whose self-professed favorite Disneyland treat is the corn dogs from the Little Red Wagon, shared a few new treats coming to the menu for the upcoming Festival of the Holidays at Disney California Adventure Park.
Among them is a delicious treat that tips its hat to Thanksgiving leftovers—with a twist.
“Our take on it is cheddar mashed potatoes. We played around with turkey, but popcorn chicken is just oh so good—it’s got turkey gravy, and we always have to put something fun on top, so we are doing a dried cranberry stuffing on top for crunch,” he shared to happy gasps from the audience.
A chorizo queso fundido mac and cheese with tortilla crunch on top is also in the mix. “And on the sweet side, I’ll give you three words: ‘sticky toffee pudding,’” he said. “But not like you think,” Gomez interjected with a laugh.
Of course, one perennial holiday isn’t going anywhere—gingerbread cookies. This season’s recipe, Gomez says, took incorporating two separate recipes and over a year to develop!
“We had to physically make two different types of dough and get different percentages of each and mix them together to get that perfect consistency.”