Ghent promises a return to festivals in the spring

After the Gent Smaak culinary festival was cancelled in the last two years, authorities are ready to bet on 2022

The Belgian city of Ghent has already set plans for public events in 2022, despite the current rise in Covid infections. The staple culinary event ‘Gent Smaak’ has been postponed twice now due to pandemic measures, however, local authorities are looking forward to having the festival in May.

‘Gent Smaak’ usually takes place in front of the City Hall, but the next edition promises to compensate for the gap in 2020 and 2021. The culinary and local producers’ festival will spill over to Little Turkey and the Korenmarkt, engulfing the city in a vibrant spring atmosphere.

Putting Ghent on the culinary map

The ‘Gent Smaak’ festival has already had nine previous editions, however, the last one was in 2019. During the last edition around 400,000 people passed through the aromatic stalls of the festival in the Stadshal (a wooden roof in the central square, which translates to ‘city hall’).

In 2022, the festival promises to more than make up for lost time with diverse offers in three specialised locations. Stadshal will be occupied by the culinary sensations of Ghent chefs and their restaurants, both experienced veterans and young promises.

The Korenmarkt will be a place where chefs can offer world cuisine and street food, while Little Turkey will be designated as a market for local producers, focusing on small supply chains. According to Sandra Van Steenkiste, a representative of Smaak, a non-governmental organisation in charge of organising the festival, even children will be able to take part in workshop restaurants. The workshops will give them a chance to see for themselves what it is like to run their own festival.

Sofie Bracke, Alderman for Economy was quoted in a press release, saying: “Gent Smaak fits in well with both our Ghent DNA and our diverse culinary landscape. With specific attention to Ghent's food strategy, family-friendliness and innovation, the festival will propagate the culinary values ​​of our city for four days.”