Why are Belgium's top chefs telling us to cook less when the heat rises?
As Belgium sweats through another summer, a Het Nieuwsblad feature gathers Flemish top chefs around a single, practical piece of advice for a heatwave: keep it quick, keep it fresh and get out of the kitchen. Behind the light recipe talk sits a heavier story about how a warming climate is quietly reshaping the way Belgians eat, shop and stay safe in the heat.
For people living in Belgium, extreme-heat days are now a recurring summer feature, and practical guidance on eating without heating up the house — and without compromising food safety — is genuinely useful. The feature also signals a slower cultural shift in how Belgians cook as the climate warms.
Het Nieuwsblad, a Flemish daily, published a lifestyle feature in which several Belgian top chefs recommend the dishes they cook during a heatwave, converging on quick, fresh, minimal-cooking food. Named institutional stakeholders in the wider context include the Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI/IRM), which issues heat warnings, and the federal public-health service (FOD Volksgezondheid), which operates Belgium's heat-and-ozone plan each summer.
Background
Belgium's culinary tradition leans toward slow-cooked, warming dishes suited to a historically cool, grey climate. Increasingly frequent and intense summer heatwaves over the past decade have pushed lighter, Mediterranean-style eating — cold soups, salads, minimally cooked food — into the mainstream during the hottest weeks.
What to do
Readers can lean on quick, fresh, make-ahead dishes to avoid heating the house during a heatwave, while observing basic food-safety care with raw or chilled preparations in high temperatures.
Impact
Regional — The feature is aimed squarely at a Flemish readership and reflects everyday kitchen life across Flanders during heat spells, though the underlying advice applies to households across Belgium.
Opposing perspectives
- Flemish top chefs (freshness-first)
The chefs featured by Het Nieuwsblad prioritise speed and freshness in a heatwave — cold, raw or barely-cooked dishes assembled quickly so no one has to labour over a hot stove. Their register is culinary comfort and practicality: the best heatwave meal is the one that keeps you out of the kitchen and still tastes of summer.
- Belgian public-health guidance (safety-first)
Belgium's heat messaging, channelled through FOD Volksgezondheid and KMI/IRM warnings, foregrounds hydration, caution and food safety during hot spells. From that angle, chilled and raw preparations — however appealing — need careful handling to avoid spoilage, and the priority in extreme heat is protecting vulnerable people rather than the elegance of the plate.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceHet NieuwsbladPrimary· nieuwsblad.beRetrieved 26 July 2026
