If there’s one thing I love to talk about and indulge in, its food. The innovative idea focused around the Milan World Expo “Feeding the planet, Energy for Life” is something we all need to be more aware of. Taking things a step further we’re going to take a look at the future of the food industry, serving food in Supermarkets, like from the video above.

Milan has gone through a slew of city changes to become “Expo Ready” as they prepared to host the World Expo 2015 from May 1st until October 31st 2015. Andreas Kiplar a German Landscape artist was hired to design numerous gardens, parks and public areas to prepare the city for the influx of visitors.

I won’t lie that at first I wasn’t the biggest fan of squeezing the world expo into my weekend at Lake Como. Having just bicycled around the lake , I wasn’t sure that I’d be up to walk around the expo all day. Megan was a pretty convincing lady and she had me up at sunrise and at the train station.

Its pretty easy to see that Milan and the surrounding areas are all focused on the expo. The trains have partnered with the expo to get awareness out and post signs onboard with helpful tips on getting there. I still hadn’t bought my ticket yet, that’s how noncommittal I was, so I used Megan’s phone to book a ticket online as we rode back into the city from Lake Como. It’s very easy to do.

We picked quite the day to attend, as it was raining before we even left the train station Varenna at Lake Como. We couldn’t have possibly predicted that it would continue to do so for the better part of the day.

The problem at the expo when it comes to rain is that yes they have those fancy canvas covers, but look up ^, do you see the white holes. I believe those were designed for sun and runoff for the water when it is raining.

Which had us dodging huge spouts of water that became increasingly more frisky as the rain continued to beat down. Can’t say it made for the best experience. If it’s raining, pack an umbrella! Megan actually had one but we checked our luggage at the metro station so we wouldn’t have to lug it around all day and it was before we understood the whole layout.

Okay, I don’t intend to detract from the insight the world expo can give when it comes to healthy food choices and innovative ways of producing clean and healthy foods, so enough about all that rain business.

Over 140 countries are participating in the world expo and 55 of them have stand alone pavilions.

As we walked in, we were able to swipe a map from a tour group and I’m sure you can find them in Pavilion 0 (an introduction to the Milan World Expo) but we decided to forgo that exhibit and dive right into our country exploring.

Checking a map I immediately wanted to go to Vietnam, because Vietnamese food is one of my most favorite foods and I wanted to see what innovative things they would be offering. 

When we stepped inside there was a performance but to my dismay there was no food or information about food here. Maybe I missed it with the 100 people all crammed inside trying to escape the rain. This is when we realized that not all pavilions serve food or are focused primarily on food which is what I thought the entire expo was about.

We ducked out and decided to try our luck with Thailand, walking by Belarus along the way.

It was easy to see that this dreary day didn’t intend to let up and there were just hundreds of people waiting in line for every expo. We snuck around back and entered the food market, just to realize that they weren’t really selling authentic Thai foods and had frozen foods that they would heat up for you in microwaves.

My idea to indulge in the different countries of the world while learning what foods they have to offer and how each country plans to feed the world while sustaining energy for life was a bit misconstrued I suppose.

We decided to walk through the Poland exhibit because there was no line. The entryway wasn’t covered and the rain had just stopped :).

So excited, do you see the crate DIY couch made of crates?! Our friend Amanda who was there with us had just made one of these for her balcony in Italy for her weekly movie night she hosts. It was an exciting feeling to think we might have been as innovative as Poland.
Welcome to Poland!

Poland is well known for their apple trees, and the designer has incorporated them into this never ending garden. As you can see we are in a garden winding down a path with mirrors on all sides. Apple trees spruced throughout, you are supposed to have a feeling of infinite space as you walk through.

As I walked through most exhibits in the expo, my thoughts were how can we feed the world with each countries highest consumable products?

Down below there was a restaurant in Poland and Megan and Will stopped off for some potato pancakes, while I set my sites on the Dutch food trucks just out back. Food trucks are the best no matter where you go!

Such as Dutch Fries and Meatballs, how can you go wrong with Dutch Fries and Meatballs?

Cheese, cheese, and more cheese, Moo.

Mini pancakes with nutella, or carmel, or fruit. Ohh my these were good.

Making the mini pancakes.

We had to roll through Spain for a quick drink of Sangria in preparation for our flight back to Napoli, a couple of hours and counting down.

Which is how we happened to glance over and find the future food district. So what exactly is the future of supermarkets?

Walk up to an item and point at it. The display will tell you what area its from and the nutritional facts. Wow. See video at the beginning of the post ^.

Robotics arms that will prepare and serve deli meats fruits and vegetables to you. All I can think of is something like Minority Report. 

Watching demonstrations of the robotics doing just that, packaging apples.

What’s a grocery’s Mart without some cheese samples?

Wouldn’t be an expo without the appearance of at least one selfie stick.

Yep, Italy sells expresso’s on bikes, don’t be alarmed, its just how they roll.

We definitely thought it was high time to stop at Mee hee Co, or how the Italians spell it, Messico.

Line up boys, Tequilla shots are ready to go.

That’s quite a bit of mint at the Mexico Restaurant.

Definitely have a margarita, and some of their tacos because they are well worth it and very good.

As Megan informed me, these fishing camps are found on the Eastern coast of Italy in Vieste. There, fishermen drop their nets into the water and then raise them to catch the fish.

Switzerland and a shout out to Mario Swiss 🙂

I mean I’ve been away from ‘Merica for quite some time, I couldn’t walk by and not represent.

America’s exhibit is centered around the farmers, as it should be.

Haven’t seen a Walgreens in a couple of years. They don’t have these in Italy or Japan.

Of course China was just outside the back door, am I allowed to mention that?

Now this is a very interesting concept. GE’s Jenbacher Gas Engine. An engine designed to run on biogas from things like farm landfill and waste to create long term power. By running on organic and unconventional fuels, GE’s Jenbaucher gas engine is an efficient power and heat generation system.

There are 3,700 of these engines in the world turning everything from sugar cane, compost, manure, and brewery hops waste into enough electricity for 5.5 million EU homes each year. Wow. Now that’s actually something that goes along with the theme of “Energy for Life”.

Don’t worry, America has their own set of food trucks. Unfortunately we had already eaten so much in the other countries we smelled the BBQ pulled pork and then went on our merry way.

USA! USA! USA! Too obnoxious? I think not.

Ah morocco, been in my sites for awhile now, hoping to get over there this fall if everything pans out right. More coming soon!
Birra Moretti, Italy’s cheap beer gets it’s own area. 

Some mint tea for you Will? I can’t deny that tea from the Middle East is always quite delightful.

I can never resist stopping at Russia for a look around.

This pavilion is focusing on the wheats that Russia produces throughout the country. So how could we distribute this wheat to feed the planet and provide energy for life? They’re working on it.

Everybody look up! Can you see us? Its like Where’s Waldo except Where’s Megan, Will & Cassey?

From a bit farther away.

Wheat, one of the consumables Russia produces in bulk.

How exactly does it get processed? You’ll have to go to the exhibit to find out.

oooo, the periodic table of elements. The nerd in me came right out and I looked for my favorite element Tungsten (W), couldn’t find it anywhere though. Not all of the elements are included on this wall.

Which makes sense because, I think these elements are the ones that Russia can provide.

It wouldn’t be a World Expo without a McDonald’s thrown in there somewhere. hehe.

While in Turkmenistan it was time to bid my friend adieu. I had to head to the airport early for my flight. Walking back was a bit hard with the rain coming down and me trying to protect my camera from the water.

End of the line. All the way at the other end of the expo.

Future foods of Turkey.

As you walk back through, its always nice to stop and throw some spare change in for Nepals cause after the destructive earthquakes.

On my way out, trying to stay dry.

So what would I have done differently if I could have?

Most people are entering from the West gate because that’s where the Metro and buses are, which means starting here I would arrive early, walk all the way down to the other end and work my way back from that direction. I believe most people run into the first few exhibits they see which crowds the ones at the front.

You can buy a expo passport, and get it stamped at each country as you visit, its a very fun game to play especially if you will be there longer than a half a day.

Also when you are leaving, they want to see your ticket again as you go through the turnstiles. I had bought mine on Megan’s phone and didn’t have it but they did let me through with little to no problem. Just a head’s up.

Finally, make sure to leave plenty of time to get to the airport if you are flying straight from the exhibit. Easy jet has their own terminal (terminal 2) at the Milan airport and the bus can take up to 20 minutes to arrive at terminal 1 and then 10 more to drive over to terminal 2. The people that work at the Easy Jet Terminal are terrible, they don’t give a shit like the typical Italian persona and they will walk away from you and not help you at all, this coming from my personal experience.

I thought much better of you Milan, compared to the Neapolitan lifestyle, but as usual never assume anything in life. The Italians here have proven to be just as terrible as the rest of them.

This article appeared first on The Cassey Excursion.