Stay home, eat chocolate: Belgian chefs celebrate Easter despite coronavirus

Belgian-based cake maker and pastry chef Michael Lewis-Anderson puts the finishing touches to a pastoral scene complete with chocolate tree and race finish line and Easter eggs adorned with spikes of the coronavirus in La Hulpe near Brussels, Belgium April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Determined chocolatiers and chefs in Belgium have kept producing their Easter delicacies despite the coronavirus lockdown, with specialist chocolate shops remaining open and also doing deliveries.

Belgian-based cake maker and pastry chef Michael Lewis-Anderson made a chocolate scene based on the fable of the tortoise and the hare to remind people to stay at home.

"You shouldn't be outside running because you have to be protected at this difficult time and the tortoise is actually staying home, which is his shell," said Lewis-Anderson.

View of a pastoral scene complete with chocolate tree, race finish line and Easter eggs adorned with spikes of the coronavirus created by Belgian-based cake maker and pastry chef Michael Lewis-Anderson in La Hulpe near Brussels, Belgium April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Easter is normally a time for chocolatiers in Belgium to show off the stamp of quality built up over the century since Jean Neuhaus invented the hard-shelled, cream-filled praline in 1912.

While French-Born Belgian chocolatier Jerome Grimonpon initially closed his shop in Brussels when the Belgian lockdown measures were imposed on March 18, he has since reopened and is also making deliveries, with an Easter collection around balloons.

"I didn't want to play the coronavirus card. I know a few have done so. It is already depressing enough," he told Reuters.

Belgian-based cake maker and pastry chef Michael Lewis-Anderson puts the finishing touches to a pastoral scene complete with chocolate tree and Easter eggs adorned with the spikes of the coronavirus in La Hulpe near Brussels, Belgium April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Belgium has so far suffered 2,523 deaths from the coronavirus and has almost 25,000 confirmed cases.

(Reporting by Christian Levaux, writing by Robin Emmott, editing by Alexandra Hudson)

View of a pastoral scene complete with chocolate tree, race finish line, a turtle and Easter eggs adorned with spikes of the coronavirus created by Belgian-based cake maker and pastry chef Michael Lewis-Anderson in La Hulpe near Brussels, Belgium April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

View of Easter eggs adorned with spikes of the coronavirus created Belgian-based cake maker and pastry chef Michael Lewis-Anderson in La Hulpe near Brussels, Belgium April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Chocolate bunnies are pictured as Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Chocolates are pictured as Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Jerome Grimonpon poses for a picture as he makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron

Jerome Grimonpon makes chocolate for Easter during the coronavirus lockdown imposed by the Belgian government in an attempt to slow down the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brussels, Belgium, April 8, 2020. Picture taken April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Johanna Geron