At Concept Chocolate chocolaterie, we have always known that making chocolate in Brussels was not just any job. It is now official: the tradition and know-how of chocolate in Brussels have just been inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage of the Brussels Region. Brussels thus becomes the first region in the country to formalize this recognition, a key step toward recognition by the other Belgian regions and, ultimately, toward a national candidacy with UNESCO.
And we are proud to carry on this tradition as a member of the I Love Belgian Chocolate initiative.
A history dating back almost four centuries
Chocolate arrived in Europe at the beginning of the 16th century, imported from Mexico and Central America. Its trail in Belgium dates back to 1635, the first documented mention at the Baudeloo Abbey in Ghent. It was truly with the arrival of the first steam engine in Brussels in 1835 that production became industrialized and the number of artisan chocolatiers multiplied.
The beginning of the 20th century marked the golden age of major Brussels inventions: the praline, created by Jean Neuhaus Jr. in 1912 in the Royal Saint-Hubert Galleries, then the ballotin imagined by his wife Louise Agostini in 1915. Houses such as Côte d'Or, Neuhaus, Leonidas, Godiva, and Corné, all born in Brussels, built the worldwide reputation of Belgian chocolate.
Today, Brussels has more than 200 chocolate shops and continues to attract chocolatiers from all over the world.
Two expertise, one same excellence
Belgian expertise rests on two complementary approaches. The first, the most widespread, consists of working with couverture chocolate: a chocolate rich in cocoa butter, produced by industrial specialists, which the artisan transforms, fills, and elevates to create pralines, truffles, and bars while bringing their own identity to it.
The second, more recent, is bean-to-bar: the artisan produces their chocolate themselves from raw beans, controlling the entire chain, from roasting to tempering. This approach emphasizes traceability and a direct link with cocoa producers.
These two models coexist today and together enrich the identity of Belgian chocolate.
Why this recognition matters
Being inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage list is official recognition of a living tradition, founded on quality, taste, sustainability, and ethics — values we uphold every day in our Schaerbeek workshop for nearly 40 years. It is also an encouragement for transmission: every year, more and more young people enroll in Brussels chocolaterie schools, ensuring the future of a profession facing very real challenges — international competition, rising cocoa prices — but one that continues to reinvent itself without losing its soul.
I Love Belgian Chocolate: a collective voice
I Love Belgian Chocolate is a non-profit association that brings together Belgian chocolatiers around shared values: craftsmanship, innovation, and sustainability. It is this association that now carries the recognition of Brussels chocolate know-how.
For us, joining this initiative was an obvious choice. Since taking over the workshop in 2011, we have been committed to perpetuating demanding artisanal know-how while remaining attentive to current expectations: transparency about cocoa origins, sustainability efforts, and creativity in recipes. Being part of a collective that carries these commitments on a Brussels and Belgian scale gives more weight to a voice that many artisan chocolatiers have been carrying individually for decades.
And for us, concretely?
Every praline, every bar, every chocolate piece that leaves our workshop on Rue des Chardons is part of this long Brussels tradition — a meticulous craft, passed on with passion, and focused on the future. We will continue to represent this tradition with pride, remaining faithful to what has always made Belgian chocolate strong: quality above all, and know-how that cannot be improvised.
To learn more about the I Love Belgian Chocolate initiative, visit ilovebelgianchocolate.be. The official recognition record can be viewed on the patrimoine.brussels website.
