This is Hamamoto from TIMEWELL.
Business professionals are often the first to recognize the value of broadening their perspective beyond the day-to-day. Expo 2025 Osaka, held in 2025 with the theme "Designing Future Society for Our Lives," was not just a trade show — it was one of the few places in the world where the food cultures of dozens of countries were available within a short walk of each other.
This article is a field report on the food experience at Expo 2025, organized around six country pavilions and one plant-based concept stand. Rather than a simple food diary, it examines what the food choices at each pavilion communicate about national identity, pricing strategy, and brand storytelling — relevant considerations for any business professional operating across cultures.
- Luxembourg and Azerbaijan — Elegance, Tea Culture, and a Surprising Mismatch
- Colombia, Malta, and a Glimpse of the Future — Innovation in Diverse Forms
- The Future of Food and Italian Classics — When New Meets Established
- Summary
Luxembourg and Azerbaijan — Elegance, Tea Culture, and a Surprising Mismatch
The Luxembourg booth opened with an immediately memorable choice: Bofferding beer, served in a wine glass. Luxembourg's identity as one of Europe's wealthiest nations per capita was on display in the presentation — the lagerstyle beer, light with a mild bitterness, felt elegant rather than casual. Served with a corn dog (potato-coated sausage in cornmeal, dressed with barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, mild pickles, and green onion), the combination was genuinely good. At ¥2,300 for the snack alone, some visitors questioned the value — but the pricing was a statement as much as a commercial decision, consistent with Luxembourg's economic identity.
The Azerbaijan booth offered something entirely different: a traditional tea experience built around the "armudu," the distinctive pear-shaped Azerbaijani glass designed so the wider top captures and lifts the fragrance. The tea itself was served as a straightforward black tea — but the vessel, the ritual, and the cultural context elevated it beyond a simple beverage. Menu names like Badam ura, Pakhlava, Şəkərbura, and Muta signaled a cuisine entirely distinct from Middle Eastern, European, or Central Asian reference points — a genuinely unfamiliar and intriguing food culture.
The unscripted moment of the Azerbaijan visit: the traditional dishes were sold out by the time the reviewer arrived. What appeared instead was a Taiwanese castella sponge cake — served in the Azerbaijan pavilion, with no apparent connection to Azerbaijani food culture. It was one of those moments where the gap between expectation and execution was jarring enough to generate genuine disappointment. As a business lesson, it illustrated how quickly an immersive cultural brand experience can collapse when the product does not show up.
The contrast between the two booths was instructive. Luxembourg's high prices reflected actual economic positioning. Azerbaijan's tea culture was rich and genuinely interesting. But the execution gap at the Azerbaijan booth was a reminder that the promise of cultural experience requires the actual experience to follow through.
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Colombia, Malta, and a Glimpse of the Future
The Colombia booth led with "Lechona" — a dish that won first place in a global consumer vote for the world's most delicious foods. Traditional lechona is a whole roasted pig stuffed with rice, beans, and spices, slow-cooked over hours. The Expo version was a simplified interpretation — no beans, closer in appearance to fried rice with roasted pork — but the flavors held: soft pork and aromatic spices absorbed into the rice created a satisfying and approachable plate. The white corn flatbread served alongside was interesting on its own; the pork skin at the end of the meal was a polarizing finish that triggered genuine debate among visitors about whether it qualified as food or as decoration.
The Malta booth arrived via food truck, keeping the experience casual. Malta's cuisine reflects centuries of layered influence — Italian, Arab, British, French — producing a hybrid Mediterranean identity unlike any single national cuisine. The local beer CISK delivered on its reputation: a clean lager with good malt character and low bitterness, easy to drink. The "ftira" sandwich — a crusty, soft-centered roll packed with tuna, olives, and capers — was one of the genuine highlights of the entire food tour. Simple, well-constructed, and satisfying in a way that felt authentic rather than theatrical.
Both booths illustrated a principle relevant to anyone working in international markets: consumers engage not just with the food but with the story behind it. Colombia's voter-chosen dish came with a built-in narrative. Malta's food truck positioning and honest pricing created a different kind of trust. Neither needed elaborate staging to make an impression.
The Future of Food and Italian Classics
The "karu-katsu burger" stand offered a plant-based tonkatsu made from rice and soy — no meat involved. The result was notably well-executed: crispy breading, a lightly salted sauce, and a texture that evoked the satisfaction of a real katsu without depending on it. In a food court full of international options, this stood out as a credible argument for plant-based protein as a mainstream food category rather than a novelty.
The final stop was Eataly, the premium Italian retailer with locations including in Tokyo, which opened a branch inside the Expo. The experience shifted the register entirely: Peroni Nastro Azzurro served in proper glassware, Margherita pizza, Trofie al Pesto (a hand-rolled pasta from Liguria), and a side of Patate Croccanti — steamed potatoes, rested overnight, torn into irregular pieces, fried crisp, and served with a sauce combining mayonnaise, mustard, anchovies, and capers. Tiramisu and white wine for dessert.
The Eataly experience demonstrated what premium positioning looks like when everything executes well: ingredient quality, restraint in seasoning, service that matched the level of the food. The Patate Croccanti in particular showed how a simple ingredient, treated with care, can outperform its category.
Summary
Expo 2025 Osaka's food program offered a concentrated version of what global business travel provides over years: direct exposure to different national food cultures and the brand strategies embedded in how countries choose to present themselves.
Key observations:
- Luxembourg: Premium positioning communicated through both product and price — consistent with national economic identity
- Azerbaijan: A rich and unfamiliar tea culture undermined by sold-out traditional dishes
- Colombia: A globally voted dish with a built-in story that made the simplified Expo version forgivable
- Malta: Unpretentious execution that delivered real satisfaction
- Plant-based: A credible mainstream category, not a novelty
- Eataly: Premium Italian executing at a level that justified the price and setting
The Expo food experience as a whole was a reminder that cultural brand storytelling works best when the product shows up. Promise and execution are not the same thing — and the gap between them is visible immediately to any experienced observer.
Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfZdbMGhNAA