“We have to nudge people to make better choices” - Geert Vanvaerenbergh, chairman of new We’re Smart Foundation.

Why do we now also have a foundation? Is the guide not enough? 
Geert Vanvaerenbergh: “We live in an era where we speak of “de-cooking” under young people. The rise of home delivery and eating out has reduced the ability to prepare fresh food and eat healthy. The foundation is created to nudge people to make better choices for themselves and the planet. With the guide we promote fine dining chefs who are wizards with pure plants. The foundation now wants to cooperate with governments and administration for other actions. School-children need access to healthy lunches and experience how delicious fresh food can be. Extending and promoting cooking methods and knowledge is another mission. Ten years ago, ‘We’re Smart World’ announced proudly that the thirty techniques to work with vegetables. Now we have published sixty-six techniques already and I am sure we are not stopping there.”

Frank Fol: “The guide is a platform to promote restaurants worldwide that do the most innovative things with fruits and vegetables. This is enabled by our esteemed business partners, for which we are grateful. By now the guide and the movement is well known in the international culinary scene and nudges professionals and diners. We publish relevant content on a high frequency, and our channels are well frequented. Now it is time to start influencing people in their homes, at work and in schools. That is why we need this initiative. With a founda-tion we have access to different types of financial support, like subsidies, legacies and inheritances. It is independent from the work we do with the guide.”

What is a foundation project you are fascinated by?
Geert Vanvaerenbergh: “The legacy project with Professor Yves Segers! As an inspector for the We’re Smart Green Guide I met many chefs. They have a creative brain; recipes and methods are kept in their heads or in little notebooks. Menus are developed, adapted, printed with much care, but disappear when the new one starts”, he says. Not surprising, the menu and recipes are not of use anymore, once she or he is on to a new idea and concept. But we realise increasingly that the answer to future challenges and issues lies in the methods of the past. Or even in last year. Especially for chefs who use local ingredients and cook with the micro season.” 
read more about the culinary heritage project
Frank Fol: “The foundation makes it possible to found an academy. Together with 5 radishes chefs, food specialists and sustainable partners a 4,5-day program has been created to be launched in 2026. This is a ‘travelling’ training. Meaning that we can run the curriculum in any country or venue. The academy is a great way to teach traditionally trained chefs the sixty plus culinary techniques they can use with all products vegetal”… 
read more about the academy

Call to action for plant-forward minded people 
If we teach children how a tomato grows and can be turned into something delicious, they will love to eat it. If you challenge and reward top chefs to work with vegetables, they will embrace them. If you share ideas how to creatively use fruits, home chefs will start experimenting. We all know that. To organise these activities costs money. If you share our vision, why not donate?  Every donation makes a difference, no matter how large or small. 

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