World’s biggest food show

Expo 2015 opened in Milano on 1st May. Its theme is Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life. There are 144 national pavilions and undoubtedly many more restaurants. You really should go. It runs until 31st October.

I went on Sunday. I must have walked at least 10 kilometres. What did I see ?

Among beverages, there was a large Coca-Cola pavilion and one of its Eko Centers, which provide clean water and social enterprise support in Africa. Evian had a capsule with sounds of the source and San Pellegrino had a dedicated booth with source visuals.

Wine was represented by many imaginative displays. Beer too. And coffee was the central theme of several countries.

In design terms, some of the most striking pavilions were those of China, Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom and Belarus. France had a glorious overhead presentation of culinary heritage and a captivating commentary on sustainability. Oman gave particular prominence to water.

The highlights were too numerous to mention, but included crops and herbs being grown through the coming months.

There was special attention to the environment in all the materials and stands.

Was there a glimpse of the future ? I visited an excellent concept store created by Coop Italia, with low tables instead of shelves and electronic information on screens to complement labels. There was also a small rotating vertical herb garden, which I suspect uses more resource than it saves.

The huge amount of walking and exercise necessary was certainly not going to increase obesity. But what was the only product I bought while there? Chocolate.