The plant-based dominoes appear to be toppling across the continent as the Netherlands becomes the latest European country to advise its citizens to curb their carnivorousness.
Not to be outdone by Slovakia, 700 miles to the southeast, which earlier this month suggested people spread a day’s worth of meat eating across the week, the Dutch have updated their national food guide to reflect the growing weight of evidence about the benefits of plant-based eating. In 2023 Denmark set out the planet’s first national action plan to create a plant-based food system, and Switzerland joined the fray with its own scheme in 2025. Even charcuterie-loving France is moving in the right direction.
The Schijf van Vijf (Wheel of Five), the equivalent of the UK’s own Eatwell Guide, now recommends eating 250g of legumes a week, rather than its previous target of 120-180g. And as in Bratislava and Banská Bystrica, so too in Breda and Bergen op Zoom: the Dutch guidelines now advise eating no more than 300g of meat per week – the equivalent of one large steak or three chicken breasts; no more than 100g of red meat; and as little processed meat as possible.
The Netherlands has already embarked on its journey to make its citizens more aware of the dangers of meat eating. Earlier this year Amsterdam became the first capital city to ban meat advertising in public spaces as it pursues its goal of transforming diets to be 50 per cent plant-based by 2050. In 2024, Haarlem, in the north of the country, became the first city anywhere in the world to impose such a ban.
“All the calculated dietary patterns are as healthy as possible, have a low environmental impact, and take safe limits into account,” said Petra Verhoef, director of the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, which creates the Wheel of Five. “In this way, we not only take good care of ourselves, but also of the world around us and future generations.”
Try out the Wheel of Five tool to find out what a healthy diet would look like if you lived in the Netherlands.