Eating your greens in Ghent

The Belgian city of Ghent has once again won accolades for its ever-growing plant-based diet initiatives.

It has long been the country’s most veggie-friendly city, a pioneer of eating greens after launching its Thursday Veggie Day in 2009.

The city policy led to the mushrooming of similar meat-free eating options. School and university canteens, municipal buildings and partner restaurants now systematically offer vegetarian meals.

A further boost came from the Flemish government’s Green Deal  ‘A change in protein on our plate’ that was launched in 2021. It is committed to switching the ratio of animal to plant proteins consumed from 60:40 to 40:60 by 2030. Naturally, the city of Ghent has already reached this target.

This raft of measures has led to a steep rise in flexitarians: people who adopt a primarily plant-based diet but still occasionally consume meat or fish on occasion.

Vanessa Debruyne of nonprofit organisation ProVeg Belgium told British newspaper The Guardian: “Twelve ago, 13% of the population described themselves as flexitarian. This year, a whopping 83% did.”

Ghent abounds with vegetarian and vegan restaurants, as well as plant-based cafes. Among the establishments highlighted by The Guardian are vegan artisan bakery Madam Baster, the Oh!Ma restaurant specialising in comfort food and vegan restaurant/bistro knol&kool. Affordable social restaurants that offer veggie dishes also get a mention, such as Parnassus and Ateljee.

The city’s revered two Michelin star restaurant Vrijmoed has also won a new accolade. It was ranked fifth among the world’s best vegetable restaurants at the new Top 100 Best Vegetable Restaurants of the World 2026 at the end of October (pictured above).

Announced at the We’re Smart Awards Show in Bruges, the prestigious ranking also saw plant-based Brussels restaurant Humus x Hortense climbing to ninth, one place higher compared to last year.

Photos: ©Oh!Ma vegan restaurant; ©We’re Smart Awards Show 2026