MILAN - I made up my mind that I absolutely had to go to Expo last summer, when the model of the Italian Pavilion was put on display in the Quirinale Palace. I fell in love with it. I thought it was one of the most original buildings I had ever seen - a cross between a lopsided bird's nest and a shower of jackstraws in a game of Shanghai. It was therefore high on my list of “musts” when I finally got to the Milan fair.

  Alas! I had to be content with admiring it from the outside (its snowy white criss-cross beams are much more substantial than they appear in photos and they are covered with a special smog-repellent cement). But there was a two-and-a-half hour queue stretching from the entrance and all along the monumental flank – a queue that never let up the entire day I was there. Since I had already had to suffer an hour-long shuffling progression just to get into the Fair, with security checks worthy of a major airport during the August holiday, I let it go, time being precious.

  The first thing you have to resign yourself to on a day trip to EXPO is that you are only going to see a small part of it. The most popular pavilions, such as Japan, China, Ecuador and Kuwait require hour-long waits. Many other, equally attractive pavilions merit more than a quick look round. The information available is vast and most of it highly interesting. That said, you take in what you can.

  If you approach the Expo Fair from the highway that overlooks the site you get a glimpse of what looks like a jostling juxtaposition of colourful spires, domes, walls, roofs, pinnacles, towers and bastions - all in the best Disneyland tradition.

  Several of the world's most famous architects and design studios, like Norman Foster, Daniel Liberskind, Atsushi Kitagawara, Arthus Casas, Yichen Lu, Knafo Kilmar, James Biber, Italo Rota and Davide Rampello (to mention just a few) were obviously briefed by their clients to produce pavilions that would not only reflect the country represented, but that would also impress the public with their originality.

 And they have certainly met the challenge. Originality prevails, even to the point of  the bizarre. We have pavilions like a sleeping dragon tail (Vanke China), a beehive (UK), a drum (Hungary), a bread basket (Qatar), a cooley hat (Thailand), giant maize leaves (Mexico), a water wheel (Belorus), a desert dune (Arab Emirates), full-blown sails (Kuwait)  and so on. Brazil's innovative entrance across a stretch of netting is a big draw and if you are up to scrambling through gaggles of teenagers this is fun. Otherwise, there's a normal entrance.

  The EXPO theme of “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life” has been respected by most, though some of the smaller pavilions seem more geared up to selling their native dishes at inside snack bars and showing off typical local crafts. There are also a few pavilions that frankly seem out of place.

 Why should a real estate giant like Vanke China (that made news when it purchased the Bush Tower in New York earlier this year), be there, even if the dragon form – here with 4,200 overlapping shiny red ceramic scales - is the symbol of agriculture? Swatch has its space, as well as the Hotel Excelsior of Milan and the Milan Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo.

  For a serious approach to the problem of universal nutrition, you have to aim for the majors like Israel, the USA, Japan, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, the Vatican etc. though some of the smaller pavilions, like the floral-roofed Principality of Monaco, can produce surprises. Besides explaining their initiatives in helping farmers in Burkina Faso and financing the purchase of yaks for Mongolia, the Monegasques have produced a study on the perils of jellyfish invasion of the Mediterranean due to global warning. This is where you learn the chilling fact that the Box Jellyfish has killed 5,568 people since 1954. It's still mostly in Australia, but it could be enticed north by changing climatic conditions, so watch out!

  Switzerland takes a serious didactic approach. It has four towers filled with coffee, apples, water and salt. The public can help themselves to these freely. But as the supply diminishes, the towers sink lower and lower to demonstrate how food for some can mean nothing left for others. For a bit of light relief, take a look at the window display of ingenious Swiss perpetual motion where a miniature cable car runs ceaselessly up and down a switchback railway. It's a hit with children and adults alike!

  A no-nonsense approach is also favoured by Germany which, incidentally, is celebrating the 25^th anniversary of Unification. Its prototype Solar Trees lower energy costs by 80% and its “Fields of Ideas” theme is correlated with high tech touch screen panels dealing with global food security, soil exhaustion and tackling farming inefficiencies.

  As might be expected, the USA is also into touch screen inter-activities, mingled with a bit of nostalgia for the 'ole homestead of yesteryears, in contrast with a discreet sales pitch for GMO (that's in a corner). The outside flank is covered with an example of Vertical Farming, with crops that grow vertically instead of horizontally. Outside, its fleet of characteristic Food Trucks with delicacies like lobster roll are obviously a big success. 

  Israel's reputation for innovative agricultural methods is emphasized in its revolutionary  “Fields of Tomorrow” with plantations that cover a spectacular 1000 sq.m - high wall sown with a patchwork of rice, grain and maize – the three basic foods of the world's population. Food for Thought indeed!

  Belgium has a different approach to feeding the planet. Since it had announced it was promoting insects as a future alternative food supply, this may be why it was one of the pavilions with less of a queue. In a darkened room down below the jewellery and chocolate, you can examine pictures of the grubs, larvae and crickets we'll probably be scrunching in future. I must admit that the arguments in favour are convincing. A locust, for instance, has next to no fat, but lots of useful nourishment like protein, magnesium, calcium, iron, fibre and phosphorus. Insect production needs very little water, food and space. Insects don't need to be dosed with antibiotics. Considering the damage locusts do, eating them could even be a sort of revenge! Nevertheless, in spite of all the listed advantages, the queues at the pavilion stall were all for a plate of Belgium chips!

  Speaking of insects, if you have ever wanted to know what it feels like to be a bee you can find out in the British pavilion. The entrance gives you a peeping tom glimpse into bees' private lives, then you are taken for a stroll through bee country - a head-high maze of meadow grasses and wild flowers till you reach the colossal tangle of wax-coloured wires that symbolize the hive. They say it looks very pretty at night when it is all lit up.

  Many pavilions concentrate on ecological issues rather than food. “Breathe” is the chosen slogan of the Austrian pavilion, which contains a mini forest of shrubs, heath and trees enveloped in a mist of cool vaporous spray. Wandering up the path under the canopy of green branches is a blessed relief, since the outside temperature had reached a killing 36 C degrees. Notices inform us that the pavilion contains 43,200 sq.m of leaf surface, which produces enough oxygen for 1,800 people per hour – the answer to 21^st century urban environmental problems.

  Water conservation is dealt with in many pavilions, such as the long-sighted United Arab Emirates who blazon their ambitious schemes for developing renewable energy to replace petroleum. China has a tradition in water conservation that goes back thousands of years, demonstrated in ancient texts displayed in its pavilion – a graceful bamboo junk sailing in a vast field of yellow marigolds. Despite the epic migrations to the cities from the countryside over the past thirty-odd years, Chinese agricultural, we learn, still fills a role of primary national importance, employing 250 million people, the equivalent of a third of the entire working population. The visit rounds off on a modern note, with a field of optic fibre corn wafting gently to and fro.

  The Rice Cluster pavilion provides a popular selfie spot, with its wall of mirrors where visitors are reflected in a  virtual paddy field. Mirrors are a feature of the entrance to the Russian Pavilion as well – this time they are overhead under the spreading wooden canopy so that you can watch yourself walking in. The Casa Russia is a vast 4000 sq.m – just beating the USA's 3.9 sq.m site. It's a Noah's Ark-like building where we learn about food security, plant cataloguing, distilling (with transparent blue stills and condensers that look like something out of science fiction). You get a drink if you can elbow your way through the crowds. By the way, did you know that Russia is one of the ten world leaders for mineral water production?

   By the middle of the day, the EXPO decumano (the mile-long main street) was like a Turkish bath, despite the overhead drapes that allegedly reduced the heat by 5 degrees. At this point you really appreciate the “Water Houses” that have been installed by the city of Milan – a true blessing. The taps distribute free refrigerated water. Join the queue to fill up your plastic bottle.

  At this point you will be searching for an oasis of peace. On personal experience, I can recommend two. The oddly-shaped Hungarian Pavilion (the inspiration is a shamanic drum). Inside there is a concert hall complete with a Boyànyi grand piano and rows of seats. There is also a peaceful roof garden upstairs. Turkey also provides refuge with its clear, uncluttered space,  tucked behind a gigantic ceramic vase, where you can sip Turkish coffee and beef up on the 1000 year-old history of the nation.

  The day would not be complete without the Tree of Life show that goes on as darkness falls. This towering steel construction has become the most popular EXPO sight. Somewhat stark and awkward-looking through the day, it comes magically to life at night, blooming with large pink and orange flowers that pop miraculously out of the trunk and branches as the surrounding fountains rise and fall among waves of psychedelic colours.

  Obviously, this is only a tiny taste of what EXPO MILANO has to offer. I missed many many other experiences, such as stabbing virtual food with chopsticks at the Japan Pavilion, admiring Tintoretto's rather startling version of the “Last Supper” in the Vatican Pavilion, which depicts the disciples falling off their chairs, the wonders inside the shimmering silver pavilion of  Kazakhstan that evidently contains live caviar-producing sturgeon as well as drones, the Netherlands jolly funfair, Spain's gigantic greenhouse, France's wooden cave, the roses of Iran and Morocco, the market gardens of Slow Food, the magical oasis of Kuwait and getting a selfie with FOODY, the EXPO Mascot who must have been sweating to death in that grotesque outfit!