ORLANDO, Fla. — With the Seven Seas Food Festival back at SeaWorld Orlando, one of the park's chefs is giving a behind-the-scenes look at how he crafts the flavors in one of the hundreds of delicious food offerings.

What You Need To Know

  • The Seven Seas Food Festival at SeaWorld Orlando offers unique international dishes

  • One chef dishes on his favorite, the Moroccan lamb chop

  • Jomar Rios said visitors can watch some of the food preparation

  • The Seven Seas Food Festival runs through May 7

Jomar Rios, executive sous chef at SeaWorld, is all about international flavor.

He's been experimenting since he was a child in his grandma's kitchen in Puerto Rico. That eventually led him to the SeaWorld festival, where he said he hopes to take visitors on a journey of their own. 

"So that’s my goal — that people, when they take a bite, that it is something different,” Rios said.

The festival features more than 200 delicious food and drink offerings inspired by different cultures.

One of Rios’ favorites is the Moroccan lamb chop.  

"You got all those flavors getting inside the lamb,” Rios said, as he prepared the lamb. “That is really what you want."

As part of the festival, Rios does a lot of his cooking outside at the Kitchen of the Seas, which churns out delights for many of the 27 marketplaces scattered around the park. 

“This is really fun — like you’ve got the plants, the flowers, the river,” Rios said. “There is nothing better than this.”

Being outside under the palms also gives Rios a chance to get more personal with the guests for whom he is cooking, his favorite part of the three-month event. 

“You can come up front. You can see the chef right in front of you,” Rios said. “You can see what they are cooking. You can see all the food that we put out.” 

While he lets the lamb cook, he's got time to work on one of the festival's most adventurous new additions, a Korean corn dog from the Asian Market. 

“What we have in here is not your typical sausage,” Rios said. “So, this is a fish sausage.” 

He finishes it up with mustard and smoky ketchup. It’s a tasty bite unique to the festival. 

“This is something different that you won’t find in any theme park,” Rios said. 

As for the favorites, they are favorites for a reason. 

Paired with some mashed potatoes and a little tzatziki sauce, each bite of lamb will leave you feeling like you traveled the world. 

"Perfect,” said Rios as he sampled his creation. 

The Seven Seas Food Festival runs Thursdays through Sundays until May 7.