Expo 2020 Dubai celebrates World Food Day with classes and giveaways

Sample spetzle and bulgogi or attend a talk on sustainability on October 16

Head to a cooking demonstration of maultaschen, a Swabian regional dish, at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Pavilion at 2pm on October 16. Photo: Hans Braxmeier / Pixabay

World Food Day came into being in 1945, to celebrate the founding of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and, by extension, to combat food wastage and world hunger. This year’s theme — our actions are our future — calls for a focus on better production, better nutrition, a better environment and better life.

What better platform, then, than a world fair? So, to commemorate World Food Day — and what it stands for — the Expo 2020 Dubai site has a line-up of events on Saturday, October 16.

Head to the Kenya Pavilion in Opportunity District from 10am to noon, to learn about the staple foods of the country and how it is empowering small-scale farmers to raise food production using sustainable principles.

At 2pm, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Pavilion, also in Opportunity District, will host a 45-minute cooking demonstration of the German state’s Swabian regional dishes, against a visual and aural backdrop of the Black Forest. Dishes include spaetzle (saucy egg noodles) and maultaschen (pasta squares filled with meat and spinach).

Head to the Korean restaurant at the Korea Pavilion in Mobility District at 3pm for food giveaways. Korean food has rapidly become one of the most popular cuisines around. Think bulgogi and bibimbap.

Over at the Mobility District’s Australian Pavilion, sign up for a cooking class and tips on how home chefs can reduce food waste and do their bit for the environment from their own kitchens. The Stop the Waste! event is from 4pm to 6.30pm.

Entry to all World Food Day events is included in the price of the day, monthly and seasonal passes.