Fab Food, the factory of taste

Confindustria, the Italian Manufacturers Confederation, is coming to the EXPO 2015 Universal Exposition to present a food display and taste experiences in partnership with the leading associations in the confederation under the management of the National Museum of Science and Technology. One of the partners is FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, to testify to the role agricultural mechanization plays for improving the quality of food and the sustainability of production processes

A great cultural and educational project is the description of the Confindustria contribution to the Milan EXPO 2015 with a world review on the theme Feeding the Planet, energy for life opening May 1 in the purpose-built Milan exposition quarters to run until October 31 for the entire six-month duration of the special event. Italian industry will be present at EXPO 2015 in the Italian Pavilion with Fab Food – The Italian Taste Factory, a display of food combined with experiences in taste and the path which accompanies food products from the farm to initial processing, on to industrial transformation and final gastronomic preparations. The exhibition is a creation of Confindustria in partnership with a number of important confederation members – Federchimica, Federalimentare, Anima, Assolombarda, Acimit, Anie, Assica, Assocomaplast, FederUnacoma and Ucimu-Sistemi per Produrre – under the aegis of the office of the President of the Republic and the sponsorship of the office of the Prime Minister with the official participation of the Ministry for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy and the Ministry of Health. The exhibit is under the management of the National Museum of Science and Technical of Milan. The route of the articulated pathway involves ten halls with surface areas of 900 m² on two levels through creative attractions for a public made up mainly of young people, students and families intent on individual and collective interactive emotional experiences for gaining an understanding of the complexities and links in the Italian agricultural-food supply chain. The Fab Food exhibit was presented Friday, March 13th at the Museum of Science and Technology with a press conference attended by Confindustria President Giorgio Squinzi, General Commissioner of the Italian Pavilion Diana Bracco, Museum Director General Fiorenzo Galli and, in audio-conference, Minister for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy Maurizio Martina. Speaking at the press conference, the museum project manager, Barbara Soresina, described the organization and solutions created for the exhibition to feature furnishings for a dynamic and lighthearted environment on the order of an amusement park. Ms Soresina explained that the first hall will take visitors through the senses: the finest of Made in Italy for slicing, pouring and transforming to give life to intense sensorial experiences. Animated dishes characteristic of the country are surrounded by sounds of typical Italian conviviality while images of tasty food products are projected on the walls. Asked the question, “What is the food of your desires?,” visitors can respond with a Jukebox of desires which turns out a sticker on the plate selected to symbolically accompany them along the entire path in the exhibit. A climb to the second floor through the Tunnel of Voices takes the visitor through the food supply chain and production processes to arrive at the heart of the exhibit: the roundabout on the theme Nourish the Planet which commits visitors to making choices needed to ensure a balanced production system for the planet; the roundabout on the issue Objective Security for virtual simulations of managing procedures in plants for achieving a Security Seal; another roundabout is on Considerations on Technology with an interactive audiovisual installation for eliciting considerations on the effects innovations in the sectors of production and medicine have had for all of us as regards our physical changes, eating habits and lifestyles. And for more, the path leads on through an area named The Figure in Shape where on show are the ways science and technology have improved our state of health, and on to an area dedicated to Innovation Recipes where visitors can learn, again through interactive play, the most significant conquests achieved by the agro-food system for responding to present and future challenges to food. With the barcode on the sticker on the plate picked up at the start of the path, visitors can then further their understanding of the themes encountered or conclude their stay by sharing their own views on sustainable food production: by attaching the sticker to a great scale which represents the balance of the system, visitors can show their degree of understanding and willingness to contribute to the complete and sustainable nutrition of the planet. FederUnacoma’s contribution to the Fab Food project is aimed at emphasizing the way food quality depends not only on transformation phases but on the entire supply chain begun with agriculture relying on increasingly sophisticated and eco-compatible machinery and equipment capable of guaranteeing, beyond healthy products, the correct use of natural resources as is necessary for effectively coping with the challenges of the new millennium.