General view of Plenary Hall during the World Food Day Ceremony. - - General: General. The second World Food Day was observed with a special ceremony Saturday in Plenary Hall at the headquarters of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. The ceremony was opened by FAO Director General, Edouard Saouma. The audience was also addressed by the President of the Italian Senate, Senator Amintore Fanfani, by H.R.H. Prince Talal Bin Abdul Aziz Saud of Saudi Arabia, by special envoy for UNICEF and President of the Arab Gulf Programme for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and by the former Secretary of UNCTAD, Dr. Raul Prebisch of Argentina. With the theme of "Food Comes First" and a dedication to combat hunger and malnutrition in the world, the second World Food Day was also observed in more than 130 countries. October 16, the anniversary of FAO's founding in 1945, was established as World Food Day by FAO's Conference in 1979 to heighten public awareness of world food problems and to strengthen solidarity in the struggle against hunger, malnutrition and poverty.