Photo taken on May 1, 2015 shows the China Pavilion at the Milan Expo 2015 in Milan, Italy. The Milan Expo will run until October 31 and is expected to attract over 20 million visitors. (Photo: Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)
Less than one week after the opening of Expo Milano 2015, the Italian world exposition dedicated to nutrition, the China pavilion at lunch time is bustling with visitors from all over the world.
"Chinese cuisine has really become international. You can find it everywhere in the world," said a girl of Armenian origin, Gayana Akopyan, while carefully reading the menu at China pavilion's restaurant.
"The choice is not easy; the Chinese cuisine is incredibly varied," she noted. "But I especially love fish so I will take these shrimp dumplings in the end. I find that Chinese cuisine often combines good quality with reasonable prices," she told Xinhua.
Yamada Tomiyo, an elderly Japanese lady, told Xinhua she was enthusiastic to learn about China's agriculture and food tradition at the China pavilion that she had already visited various times in the past few days. She said she had spent some time in China during Shanghai Expo 2010 and considers China to be her second home.
Alessandro Gao was born in Italy, along with his four sisters and brothers. "We have grown up in Italy so of course we appreciate very much the Italian cuisine. Yet at home we often like to have Chinese food," said the young man while eating lunch with his mother and one of his sisters at the China pavilion.
Federica Folina, an Italian girl, had just finished a dish of meat dumplings when she talked with Xinhua. "They were exquisite, I ate all of them in a trice," she said.
"I visited various pavilions today, but I was very happy when I saw this restaurant at the China pavilion. It was noon and I rave about dumplings," she highlighted.
Folina told Xinhua she often ate Chinese food, although finding an authentic Chinese restaurant is not always an easy thing in Italy. "Expo Milano 2015 is a good occasion for every country to celebrate the real taste of their culinary culture, and China has managed to do it very well," she said.
"Actually, I also find the Chinese cuisine to be very healthy, in line with the expo's spirit," added the girl, who said her passion for Chinese food may be a stimulus for her to also study Mandarin.
Themed "Land of Hope, Food for Life," the China pavilion exhibits the Asian country's agricultural history, food culture and its future expectation to the world. It covers an area of 4,590 square meters and is the second largest self-built foreign pavilion at the Italian world exposition.
Expo Milano 2015 is hosting more than 140 countries and organizations.
Organizers have called the site, which extends over an area of about one million square meters northwest of Milan, the "biggest restaurant of the world," which will stay open till Oct. 31 to stimulate reflection on the vital need for sustainable and healthy food for everybody on the planet.
