EU-Project

GoodFood in Progress

An overview of the project’s implementation in the partner countries.

As the GoodFood program continues to take shape across Europe, each partner country is moving forward at its own rhythm—shaped by local contexts, school dynamics, and evolving teaching practices. In this overview, we take a closer look at how implementation is progressing in each country, highlighting the steps being taken, the challenges encountered, and the momentum that is steadily building as GoodFood becomes an active and growing part of catering schools’ life.

The Netherlands – Empowerment and Student Activation

GoodFood is progressing steadily in the Netherlands, though challenges remain in engaging students effectively. A guest lecture delivered on December 5, 2025, revealed that the instructional materials were still too complex and text-heavy, making it difficult to fully motivate learners. The central challenge is to develop a programme that activates students and can be replicated in other schools.

To address this, the Dutch team is leading a practical approach based on empowerment. They are developing a simplified card game designed to help students make decisions, strengthen motivation, and understand how habits can shift through conscious choice. The next steps include piloting this activity and refining the newly simplified factsheets.

Italy – From a Strong Start to a Phase of Reorganisation

Italy kicked off the project with one of the strongest launches, engaging around 150 students in the project presentation and 15 students in the Treasure Hunt: an interactive activity that challenged participants to identify opportunities for change within their school. However, progress slowed down when teachers stopped responding, creating a temporary implementation gap.

The lack of a key teacher didn’t stop the Italian team and, thanks to the Principal’s collaboration, they are now working with few but motivated students that will focus on three of the five project areas: Food & Waste, Food & Environment and Food & Health. Students are now collecting fundamental data to develop their Action Plan and start their activities to make the school more sustainable.

Spain – Gradual Progress Through a Growing Sustainability Framework

Spain is advancing step by step as schools continue to strengthen their sustainability module. Although integrating new content can be challenging in busy educational environments, teachers are increasingly incorporating GoodFood ideas into existing lessons. The team is actively collaborating with motivated educators, building momentum and laying the groundwork for deeper implementation throughout the year.

Spain is already in the study and the first steps of developing tasks that align with the central themes of GoodFood.

Germany – Ethical Commitment with a Need for Methodological Clarity

Germany demonstrates strong teacher commitment to ethics and reducing meat consumption. However, teachers struggle to motivate students to work with new vegetarian recipes and step off the beaten track. Also, the local team faces difficulties when it comes to communicating the project’s behaviour-change approach as an effective starting point to develop actions together with students in comparison to executing prescritive lesson plans. Workshops to take place in April with teachers and students will focus on the GoodFood topic Food & Health, as it was marked highly relevant for students in the previous study, and on empowerment and behaviour change.

Germany is still defining its focus area and has reviewed and refined the project’s factsheets on GoodFood themes. This will help align expectations and ensure that the learning approach supports long-term behaviour change.