While Milan kicked off the one-year
countdown to Expo 2015 this week with an evening musical
entertainment extravaganza, Thailand unveiled its pavilion for
the food-themed World's Fair in Bangkok.
The theme of Milan Expo 2015, which runs May 1-October 31
next year, is "Feeding the Planet: Energy for Life". The fair
will put global culinary culture on show and tackle issues like
food security, nutrition, hunger, as well as promote
environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable global
food-production practices.
A line-up of Italian stars took the stage Wednesday night
for a concert in Piazza Gae Aulenti, Milan's newest city square
at the base of the spiralling Unicredit tower, Italy's tallest
building.
Veteran Italian television presenter and bestselling
cookbook author Antonella Clerici hosted celebrity chefs Davide
Oldani and Don Gino Rigoldi, comedian-actor Enrico Bertolino,
and Italian Agriculture Minister Maurizio Martina, among others.
Milan Mayor Giuliano Pisapia, Lombardy Governor Roberto
Maroni and ex-mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, whose
administration won the opportunity to host the Expo in November
2010, also took part.
The collection of politicians hailing from opposing
political parties was meaningful, Maroni said.
"All the institutions are committed to Expo 2015. It is not
often that institutions led by proponents of different parties
unite to work (together), and here it is happening," said
Maroni.
Maroni is a leader of the anti-immigration, regionalist
Northern League party, while Pisapia is a member of the left and
Moratti a former stalwart of centre-right Forza Italia party,
founded by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.
Singer-songwriter Andrea Bocelli sang a concert to the
accompaniment of the RAI Orchestra, the official musical
ensemble of Italy's public broadcaster.
Guest conductor Andrea Morricone - son of the legendary
Italian soundtrack composer Ennio Morricone - led the world
debut of Expo 2015's first anthem, written by Bocelli and the
elder Morricone.
"One year from the event, the accent needs to be put on the
nutrition theme and talk begun of social aspects tied to that,"
said Milan Expo Commissioner Giuseppe Sala, who also billed Expo
as an epicurean attraction.
"Expo will be the biggest restaurant in the world, and I
think it is beautiful to say so," Sala added.
The one-year countdown was also celebrated Wednesday with
the unveiling of a limited edition, platinum Expo coin, and the
presentation of the first month's worth of events planned to
animate the streets of Milan during the fair.
Meanwhile, plans for Thailand's Expo pavilion on Thursday
were shown in Bangkok.
The 2,500 sq m construction on a 3,000 sq m site will be
modeled after a traditional, bell-shaped farmer's hat called a
"ngob", still widely in use.
The woven-straw hat is made in such a way that air
circulates through it, ventilating the farmers' head as they
work under the sun. Thailand's pavilion was designed to exploit
the same principle - for a structure active during Milan's
warmest months - to have an extremely low environmental impact.
The Thai pavilion will also honour the sacred with a divine
symbol of water, the serpent-like Naga, and a section of a
stupa, a domed Buddhist structure containing relics used for
meditation.
The pavilion aims to display the importance of Thai
agriculture, the global stature of Thai cuisine, Thailand's
food-packaging innovations, and a sustainable future for Thai
farming that the country's head of state, King Bhumibol
Adulyadej - known as Rama IX - strongly desires.
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