‘The World Food Center offers us a nice opportunity to conduct a dialogue about food with the general public, given that the centre is expected to attract 200 to 300 visitors a year,’ says Bino. ‘We want to do research in the centre too, by involving the visitors in the use of health gadgets, food preparation and food concepts. We are developing research projects jointly with the universities of Maastricht, Nijmegen, Groningen and Utrecht.’
The food expo centre is to go up near the new Ede-Wageningen station, construction of which starts at the end of 2018. The initiators are the World Food Centers foundations, Ede municipality, WUR and two project developers, Green Real Estate and Van Wijnen group. Future visitors should be able to smell, feel and taste foods in the centre. Companies such as Albert Heijn, DSM, Albron and Scelta Mushrooms will be taking part too. The main financiers are the provinces of Gelderland and Ede municipality.