Travel deeper
taste more
You've Seen the tourist version.
You've been patient with it long enough.
We've been lied to about travel.
They told you it was about seeing things. Museums. Monuments. The landmark at golden hour. Check the box. Take the photo. Move on.
You've done it. You know what you came home with.
The real version of every place you've ever wanted to go still exists. In the kitchen with no sign. The market just as it opens. The dish that has been passed down generations and never written down. That knowledge lives in the hands of the people still making it. When those hands stop, it's gone.
These journeys exist because I found those rooms.
Ten people. Every journey chef-led.
If you've been waiting for someone to take inside, you found her.
The museum is the version they decided to preserve.
The recipe never written down. Passed hand to hand, generation to generation, is the history that refuses to die.
Shannon Bard
Chef Shannon Bard Featured In
Upcoming journeys
WHAT EVERY JOURNEY IS
Ten people. Never more.
Every journey is chef-led, not managed by a tour director who read about the place, but built on relationships that took years to earn. The fisherman who actually sells to the kitchen. The family who has never had a camera in their home before. The distiller who doesn’t do tastings. The cook who learned from her grandmother and will teach you the same way.
What you get into depends on the destination and what those relationships make possible. Sometimes it’s a private villa. Sometimes a camp at the edge of something wild. Sometimes a boutique hotel in the middle of a city that never sleeps. The accommodation changes. The access doesn’t.
You will eat things that aren’t on menus. You will cook things that were never written down. You will sit at tables where the food tells you more about a place than any museum ever could.
International journeys have no single supplement. You won’t pay more for traveling alone.
If you need everything mapped out before you say yes, these journeys are probably not for you.
If you trust that the person who built this has been inside these rooms before and will get you there, read on.
thailand
Bangkok will give you something to eat every five steps. Markets, street stalls, a floating market built around the water. Easy to think you’ve understood Thai food.
You haven’t.
We move through it. Then north to Chiang Mai, where the coconut disappears, the charcoal takes over, and you realize how much of this country you never actually tasted.
Dates - January 18 - 24, 2027
Reservations Open June 1, 2026
10 Seats
$7,200 · No Single Supplement
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
bali
Ubud hits you differently than anywhere else. The air is thick with incense, offerings placed at every doorstep before the day begins.
It looks complete. It isn’t.
We follow the food past that. Into family compound kitchens, where what’s cooked for the house, what’s set out for the gods, and what you eat all come from the same place.
Dates - June 8 - 13, 2027
Reservations Open August 1, 2026
10 Seats
$7,200 · No Single Supplement
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
morocco
Marrakech will hand you a version of itself the second you arrive. Smoke, spice, noise, too many choices. Most people stop there.
We don’t.
We move through it. Then we leave it for the Atlas Mountains, where the food slows down, the fire is real, and what you’re eating belongs here. The Berber women who’ve been cooking this way since before anyone thought to write it down. The tagine that has nothing to prove.
This is the Morocco underneath the postcard.
Dates - April 22 - 29, 2027
Reservations Open July 1, 2026
10 Seats
$8,000 · No Single Supplement
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
san sebastian
There is a city in northern Spain where the bars exist only to feed you. No menus. No reservations. Just counter after counter of food so precise it changed the way the world cooks.
That’s the surface. We go underneath it.
The fisherman who supplies the kitchen. The Txakoli vineyard on the hillside. The creamery nobody photographs. The hands that built the reputation and never stopped.
Dates - To Be Announced
Waitlist Open
10 Seats
$7,200 · No Single Supplement
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
Oaxaca
Follow the smoke. It leads to an alleyway where the meat has been grilling over open fire for generations. To a kitchen where a grandmother measures mole in count — eight cloves, one cinnamon stick — the same way her mother did.
To a distillery where the mezcal hasn’t changed because there’s no reason to change it.
This is not the Oaxaca on the menu. This is the one that made it.
Dates - To Be Announced
Waitlist Open
10 Seats
$6,000 · No Single Supplement
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
Scotland
Most people who think about Scotland think about the whiskey. The scenery. They’re not wrong. They’re just not far enough in.
We forage the hills at dawn. Pull langoustines from a boat on Skye’s coast before anyone’s put a price on them. Cook over open peat fire with what the land gives us. Sit inside a distillery doing the same thing it’s done for centuries and taste what patience actually means.
Scotland is the most underrated food culture in Europe. Almost no one who talks about it has actually eaten there.
You will.
Dates - To Be Announced
Waitlist Open
10 Seats
$7,200 · No Single Supplement
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
close to home
The real version exists everywhere. Not just abroad. New Orleans, Nashville, Charleston. The kitchens that have been cooking the same way for generations. The food that tells you exactly who these people are and what they refused to lose.
Three nights. Four days. Ten people. Chef-led. The working version of what's right in front of you.
This isn't a food tour. It's for people who already know the difference.
new orleans
People come to New Orleans. They walk Bourbon Street, eat gumbo, check the box. They’ve seen it. They haven’t really tasted it.
The real version is in a kitchen where the roux takes forty minutes and every dish carries the history of every culture that passed through this city and left something behind in the pot. French, Spanish, African, Native. Layered into the food the way it was layered into the city itself.
Most never find this version. You will.
Dates - October 1 - 04, 2025
Reservations Open June 15, 2026
10 Seats
$2300 per person
$2600 single
(3 single rooms available)
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
nashville
Everyone comes to Nashville for the music. They leave thinking they understand the food. They ate hot chicken on Broadway. They took the photo. They missed it.
Nashville’s real food history is the story of what got built, kept alive, and quietly handed down. We eat at the tables and cook in the kitchens where it still lives.
Dates - 2027
Waitlist Open
10 Seats
From $2300
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
charleston
People come to Charleston for the architecture. The shrimp and grits at a restaurant with a reservation weeks out. They’ve eaten the version the city decided to serve them.
Lowcountry food was built by the Gullah Geechee people — descendants of West Africans brought here for their knowledge of rice cultivation. The okra soup. The red rice. The she-crab. That knowledge is still alive. It lives in the family kitchens nobody visits.
We go there.
Dates - 2027
Waitlist Open
10 Seats
From $2300
Waitlist members receive first access and 48-hour booking window before public release.
Questions?
What you Need To Know
What's Included In The Price?
Airport transfers and all ground transportation for included activities. Accommodation for the duration of the journey. Hands-on cooking sessions. Local cultural guides. All entrance fees. Daily breakfast and most lunches and dinners. Wine and local beverages where specified.
Not included: international airfare, travel insurance, personal expenses, and gratuity for local guides.
Specific inclusions vary by journey and are detailed on each journey page.
What Travel Documents Do I Need?
A valid passport is required for all international journeys. Visa requirements vary by destination and nationality. Each journey page lists the specific requirements for that destination. It is your responsibility to verify entry requirements for your passport before booking.
Can I Arrive Early Or Extend My Stay?
Yes. We can arrange additional nights in the area. Reach out after reserving and we'll handle it.
Do I Need Travel Insurance?
Not required, but strongly recommended. It protects your investment and covers medical emergencies and personal items abroad. Most Cancel for Any Reason policies must be purchased the same day as your deposit, so do not wait.
Who Travels On These Journeys?
All kinds of people. Some cook seriously. Some just love to eat. Some travel specifically to find the food that tells you who a place really is. Some have never held a chef’s knife and some have been in professional kitchens for years. What everyone shares is genuine curiosity about food and the people who make it. If that’s you, you’ll be in good company.
Do I Need Cooking Experience?
No. You need curiosity and a willingness to be present. The cooking sessions are hands on and led in the moment. The rest happens at the table.
Where Does The Journey Start And End?
Each journey starts and ends at the destination city. Arrival airport and logistics are detailed on the individual journey page. Concierge support is available if you need help coordinating travel.
Are Solo Travelers Welcome
Yes. International journeys have no single supplement. You will not pay more for traveling alone. Close to Home journeys are priced per person based on double occupancy. Single supplement pricing is available on each journey page.
What Is The Cancellation Policy?
If plans change 31 or more days before departure, you receive a full refund minus a $750 service fee per person. This covers commitments already made to local partners on your behalf. Inside 30 days, costs are non-refundable. Travel insurance is strongly recommended and should be purchased within two weeks of your deposit.
How Do I Secure My Seat?
Open journeys have a Secure Your Seat button on the journey page. Waitlist journeys have a Join the Waitlist button. Waitlist members receive first access and a 48-hour booking window before public release. You will hear from me directly within 48 hours of joining.
The stories. The kitchen. The world. The market.
