GoodPlanet Partnership: Inspiring Children to Embrace Sustainable Food

Elliott Van de Velde, chef at Entropy, together with his non-profit organisation HEARTH PROJECT, introduces children to local and seasonal produce through all five senses.

Learning to Eat Sustainably: What If It All Started with Wonder?

What if, instead of simply explaining how to transform our food system, we started by creating experiences?

Faced with environmental challenges, we tend to multiply information, statistics and recommendations. Yet understanding something intellectually is not always enough. We also need to feel it in our bodies and hearts. To experience wonder, curiosity, surprise and desire.

Much like the approach of Yann Arthus-Bertrand, who invites us to see the world differently and appreciate both its beauty and fragility, we believe at Entropy that a sense of wonder can be a powerful starting point for ecological change.

And what better time to start than childhood?

Entropy Joins GoodPlanet Belgium for the Croque Local Challenge

On Friday, October 16, 2026, 200 Belgian schools will take part in the GoodPlanet Croque Local Challenge, an initiative encouraging children to discover local and seasonal fruits and vegetables through their five senses.

As the GoodPlanet Challenges celebrate their 20th anniversary, our chef Elliott Van de Velde, co-founder of Entropy Restaurant in Brussels, will join pupils at Les Bienheureux school in Biesme-sous-Thuin for a day dedicated to discovery, creativity and sustainable food.

Walloon Minister Yves Coppieters is also expected to join the children to taste their creations and discuss sustainable eating.

Discovering Vegetables Differently: Touch, Smell, Cook and Taste

How can we make vegetables more appealing? How can we cook legumes differently? How can we transform a few simple, seasonal ingredients into a beautiful, creative dish?

Throughout the day, pupils will explore the richness of autumn alongside chef Elliott Van de Velde.

On the programme: sensory discovery of ingredients, flavour combinations, exploring textures and colours, preparing a plant-based menu and learning the art of food presentation.

The goal is not simply to share nutritional or environmental knowledge, but to create a positive, hands-on experience around local, plant-based and sustainable food.

When children discover the pleasure of preparing vegetables, appreciating their flavours and transforming ingredients with their own hands, they begin to build a different relationship with food.

From Awareness to Experience: Learning by Doing

A scientific meta-analysis of 225 studies found that university students taught through traditional lectures were 1.5 times more likely to fail than those involved in active learning.

Although this research focuses on higher education, it reflects a belief that guides our educational projects: learning through experience offers possibilities that simply transmitting information cannot.

The transition towards sustainable food systems cannot rely solely on guilt-inducing messages or instructions to consume differently.

It must also spark curiosity, build confidence and empower people to make their own food choices.

At Entropy, we believe food can do more than nourish us. It can also help us discover, understand and connect with the world around us.

A Natural Continuation of HEARTH PROJECT and Our Educational Initiatives

This collaboration with GoodPlanet Belgium is part of the ongoing commitment of Entropy and HEARTH PROJECT.

For several years, our initiatives have brought together sustainable food, food waste prevention, solidarity and education.

Today, we want to go further by developing accessible educational tools for children and families.

As participants selected for the European TASTE programme, we are developing an educational game focused on sustainable food, alongside a travelling educational caravan designed to visit schools.

Our ambition is to make the principles of local, seasonal, healthy and minimally processed food accessible through practical, playful and sensory experiences.

Because meaningful change sometimes begins with very simple experiences: tasting an unfamiliar vegetable, meeting a local producer, understanding the seasons or cooking together.

Inspiring the Next Generation to Care for Our Planet

For 20 years, the GoodPlanet Challenges have encouraged Belgian schools to take concrete environmental action through positive, collective activities.

We are delighted to contribute to this initiative by sharing our culinary expertise and our belief that pleasure and curiosity are powerful drivers of learning.

Knowledge helps us understand the world. Wonder makes us want to care for it.

What if the next generation learned to build a more sustainable food system, not simply because they should, but because they have discovered its richness for themselves?

An initiative bringing together Entropy Restaurant, Elliott Van de Velde and GoodPlanet Belgium, as part of the GoodPlanet Croque Local Challenge, supported by Wallonia.