CORRECTION
Pandemic prompts changes to offerings for annual celebration
Because of an editing error, a guest column on nursing-home attendants in the Feb. 24 Opinion section included an incorrect reference to Five Star Senior Living, a national chain of senior-living centers. Gulf Shore Care Center in Pinellas Park opposes the use of personal care attendants.
Universal Studios’ Mardi Gras celebration has a new scent to it and sports new things to look at, too. The changes have seeped across the theme park.
The event’s food and drink offerings have been expanded — in a number of items and locations — as the coronavirus pandemic prompted Universal Orlando to suspend its nightly parade and concert series. It went bigger and beyond its usual borders, as indicated by the event’s expanded name, Mardi Gras 2021: International Flavors of Carnaval.
There’s more visual appeal, notes Robert Martinez Jr., executive sous chef, research and development.
“We didn’t just want to put kiosks out here and, you know, serve out of them. … At the Puerto Rican tent, they’re carving pernil right in front of you. They’re mashing mofongo,” he said. “You get those sights, you get those smells.”
The chef recently walked across the park, pointing out enhancements and menu highlights.
“In 30 years, this has been the first festival that we have done where it’s really been driven with food,” he said. There are 13 food stations and more than 100 menu items this year, he said.
One addition is an expansion of a change made after last year’s three-month park shutdown. Universal introduced a food truck selling arepas.
“With this food festival, we wanted to bring out the grill and actually have the guests be able to watch them cook the arepas. … So you get that smell of the cornmeal going on,” Martinez said. “The guests could visualize it
and really understand what an arepa is — it is actually being cooked right in front of them.”
Several variations of arepas are sold at the Colombia stand in the park. At previous Mardi Gras festivals at Universal, the themed food was concentrated in the Battery Park area and mostly Cajun or New Orleans-style offerings. This year, the stands go from Cuba, the Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago to Spain, Germany, Belgium and beyond. Food items are spiked with toothpick-sized national flags.
“We really wanted to focus on a lot of countries that had a Carnaval festival going on within that country,” said Martinez, who has worked at Universal for 20 years.
Early fan favorites, he said, have been the Cuban sandwich (from the Cuba booth) and an elaborate Bloody Mary from a stand near the stage in Music Plaza, where there are many New Orleans options — including jambalaya, etouffee and muffuletta.
With more booths came the need for more tables. Sleek, boxy ones were added to the Music Plaza area, while the Trinidad and Tobago section has big drums decorated with lizard symbols as tables, the Bahamas includes stands with brightly colored slats and, in several locations, bongo drums form the bases for high-top tables. Some kiosks sport the facade of storage containers.
“This year we kicked it up a notch,” Martinez said.
Theme parks have leaned into the international food festival trend. SeaWorld Orlando expanded its Seven Seas Food Festival lineup to more than 200 items this year. At Disney World, Epcot festivals devoted to the arts and gardening include multiple eating opportunities.
At Universal Studios, the Mardi Gras atmosphere continues with the parade floats on display and performers tossing beads from a healthy distance. Traditional music is piped in throughout the day.
Mardi Gras food specials have spilled into Universal CityWalk restaurants and the resort’s hotels.
“It’s basically a party all over the place,” Martinez said.
Universal’s Mardi Gras celebration continues daily through March 28. For more information, go to universalorlando.com/mardigras.
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