Sustainable food
-
-
Sustainable food
Eating habits have a major impact on climate change and environmental degradation. Ghent tackles these issues by making its local food system more sustainable.
Sustainable food
Eating habits have a major impact on climate change and environmental degradation. Ghent tackles these issues by making its the local food system more sustainable.
Between 2013 and 2025, the City of Ghent focused on creating a local, sustainable and social food system with Gent en Garde. In collaboration with the Food Council, Ghent's food strategy was translated into local projects that effectively contributed to a more sustainable food chain. Numerous organisations, citizens and entrepreneurs integrated this vision into their operations and daily lives.
programme
-
Ghent's sustainable food projects & plans
-
-
Pioneer in protein transition
As the first city in Belgium, Ghent presents a local action plan for protein production &consumption.
Ghent has been a forerunner in the protein transition for more than 10 years.
In 2009, Ghent started 'Thursday Veggie Day', a campaign to encourage citizens to eat vegetarian at least one day a week. On Thursdays, all of Ghent's city schools, day-care centres and public services serve only vegetarian meals. Various initiatives (such as promoting restaurants and shops that offer vegetarian alternatives, coaching restaurants in the preparation of vegetarian meals and organising vegetarian cooking workshops for hundreds of citizens and students) ensured that more and more inhabitants of Ghent came into contact with vegetarian cuisine. Compared to other Flemish cities, Ghent has a significantly higher number of citizens who are willing to reduce their meat consumption. This also made Ghent attractive for research, companies, restaurants and caterers specialised in vegetarian food.
Building on all these years of experience, the City of Ghent is the first city in Belgium to present a local action plan to a shift in protein consumption towards 60% plant-based nutrition. The plan was drawn up in cooperation with the Food Council and after a series of consultations with stakeholders. In doing so, we take into account both the demand and the supply side. Because both are closely linked. Together with local producers, for example, we are looking for innovative and diverse protein sources, more sustainable animal production and more production of proteins for human consumption.
-
Foodsavers
Foodsavers in Ghent collects food surpluses via a logistics platform and delivers them to social organisations in Ghent.
With Foodsavers, the City of Ghent is tackling the ‘food waste’ problem on a large scale. More than 1,000 tonnes of food surpluses from supermarkets or auctions have already been redistributed through poverty alleviation organisations and social restaurants. In this way, we save on CO2 emissions, employ people who are long-term unemployed and fight poverty. The Foodsavers project originated from a bottom-up idea, which was picked up and developed further by the City.
-
Short-chain platform
The professional platform Vanier brings short-chain products to Ghent shops and restaurants.
The City of Ghent supported the start-up of Vanier, an innovative cooperative platform that brings short-chain products sustainably to shops and restaurants in Ghent. Vanier brings restaurants, institutional kitchens and retailers into contact with producers from the Ghent region. In this way, the market for these producers expands and buyers get a closer relationship with the producers and the products.
-
Sustainable school meals
Ghent opts for honest, healthy and sustainable school meals that respect people, animals and the environment.
The school meals in Ghent city schools and day-care centres consist of more organic ingredients, less meat and more seasonal products. Criteria such as food waste and human and animal welfare are also taken into account. With our sustainable school meals, we reach 4,500 pupils and serve 775,883 meals per year.
On Thursdays, all meals are vegetarian. On all other days, halfhalf meals are served: this means that for each meal animal protein is limited to a maximum of 50% of the total protein content.
In 2019 the city signed the cool food pledge. From 2018 to 2022, the city was able to reduce 38% CO2 emissions from the school meals, due to the introduction of half-half meals. Reducing the purchase of red meat had the most impact in reducing the CO2-emissions.
-
Free land for sustainable production
Ghent invests in agricultural land for local and sustainable production.
The Goedinge is a pilot project in which 10 hectares of land - owned by the City of Ghent - is put on the market for free for local, sustainable food production, to be sold to the urban population. This pilot project enables experimentation with criteria for sustainable agriculture, cooperation and social aspects of food production.
The lessons learned from the Goedinge project will help develop new models that can be rolled out on public farmland in the coming years.
-
FEAST makes more sustainable and healthy eating behaviour easier
In Ghent, one of the thirty European partners, a Living Lab is being set up for this purpose on collective action around food.
Since the creation of the Ghent food strategy Gent en Garde more and more sustainable food initiatives have emerged, such as farmers' markets and CSA farms. There is a growing interest from several stakeholders itself to reach vulnerable citizens.
These ideas are already in place:
- A plant-based restaurant wants to offer a daily hot meal with a free contribution.
- A CSA farm raises funds from its own members to get and keep on board some families who otherwise can't afford to be a member.
- A cooperative supermarket wants to roll out a solidarity pricing policy for people in poverty .
-
Food council
One of the important aspects of Ghent's food strategy was its innovative governance model involving numerous stakeholders. The model was based on co-creation and participation. The Ghent food council:
- Brought together some 30 representatives of the agricultural sector, distribution and trade, restaurants, civil society and knowledge institutions.
- Gave advice to the city, acted as a sounding board and was also actively involved in the development of the objectives and priorities.
- Had its own budget to stimulate innovative projects that make the food system more sustainable.
-
Good food remains important
-
Even after Gent en Garde, the City continues to set priorities for healthy food for everyone and short supply chains:
- Healthy food and protein shift in schools and social restaurants
- Sustainable procurement policy
- Support for farmers (contact point, learning network) and strengthening of the culinary council
- Sustainable and affordable food for people in vulnerable positions
- Short supply chains and local production
-
Sustainable food awards & partnerships
Ghent's food policy received several national and international awards and is an active partner in several international food cooperations.
-
Sustainable Food Procurement Champion
-
UN Award‘Momentum for Change’
-
Eurocities Award
-
Climate Star Award
-
Milan Pact Award
-
ICLEI Transformative Action Award
-
Culinary Innovators Award