an ode to dining: the NOMS Ways of Feasting retreats
“Eating well is not only one of life’s great pleasures, it’s also the best way into a culture. Food has centuries of history, cross-cultural exchange and storytelling behind it, and that's endlessly fascinating to us.”
The stomach dictates the travel itinerary – or at least that’s the philosophy of Madeleine Woon and Katerina van Camp, founders of NOMS, a food and travel platform that celebrates the joy of gathering around the table through experiences and conversations with chefs, tastemakers and fellow foodies. Now, NOMS hosts immersive food retreats – or, as the founders describe them, “an edible education of sorts”.
We sat down with the duo to talk about all things delicious, from their thoughtfully planned Ways of Feasting retreats – including upcoming editions in Kastellorizo and Sifnos – to munching their way through Uzbekistan and Bangkok.
How did Ways of Feasting evolve from NOMS?
“After years of acting as unofficial travel agents for friends and family, and organising countless group trips to Greece, hosting our own food-led experiences felt like a very natural next step. The idea behind Ways of Feasting is to explore what we eat, and why it matters, through immersive experiences with guest chefs, local cooks, farmers, winemakers, fishers, and bakers.”
The growing community of chefs are chosen for their deep connection to the place, while locals – whether fishermen, farmers, or home cooks – are invited to cook regional classics alongside them.
"In Kaş, just a seven-minute ferry ride from Kastellorizo, our friend Güzin Çırak, who owns the incredible farm-to-table restaurant Doğal Anne Eli Kaş, took us around the weekly market she grew up shopping. She introduced us to her favourite producers before taking us to her mum's stall for gözleme (savoury stuffed flatbreads) and ayran (a yogurt-based drink).”
The retreats go beyond simply serving exquisite food. Each hotel is chosen for its intimate, characterful setting – and the communal table is key. The first edition of Ways of Feasting was hosted in the south of Portugal at a rustic farm stay, Helder Farm Studios, after a large renovation project. Tell us about this first retreat.
“We worked with our friend, chef Julia Khan Anselmo of Feisty Feast, who cooked her late father's Portuguese dishes from memory, alongside her talented assistant Helena Gawrzyalska (I still dream about her River Café mud cake). Our resident sommelier, Nikolina Skenderija, organised wine pairings with low-intervention Portuguese winemakers and led informal conversations centered around a different local ingredient each day.
One of the highlights was eating wild boar that the owners, Esmee and Laurens' neighbours, had hunted that very day. Laurens butchered it with the help of one of our guests, whose father had owned a butcher's shop, before Julia and Helena turned it into a Portuguese stew that we ate together for dinner in the olive grove. It doesn't get much more farm-to-table than that!”
Meeting people, connecting over the dinner table, and sharing experiences are vital to the retreats. From research trips and beyond, are there any destinations that stand out for their culinary experience?
“Last year, we travelled to Uzbekistan for the inaugural Central Asian Biennale in Bukhara, which featured artists like Jenia Kim and Laila Gohar. Within 10 minutes of setting foot in Samarkand, we were offered food on the street. We'd poked our heads into what we thought was a food market, and which turned out to be an outdoor kitchen where volunteers were cooking lunch for the police. One of the young chefs beckoned us over and handed us takeaway containers of plov, Uzbekistan's national rice dish. It really set the tone for the beautiful hospitality and generosity we encountered throughout the trip.
Bangkok, which we recently visited, was a very gluttonous few days of eating everything from street food vendors to the city's new wave of restaurants, bar hopping through buzzy natural wine and cocktail bars, and, of course, our non-negotiable daily sticky rice with mango.”
“Kastellorizo sits on the easternmost edge of Greece, closer to Turkey than Athens. You feel that geography everywhere: in the pastel-splashed harbour, the neoclassical facades and the seafood-heavy cooking threaded with Levantine influences."
Their Kastellorizo retreat builds on last spring’s itinerary: feasts aboard Captain Yorgos’ boat, wine tastings with low-intervention Greek winemakers, a trip across the water to Kaş for its weekly market and a mountain lunch, and a guided hike through oregano-scented hills with Pandezis, who created the trails. The outdoor dining space and kitchen at host hotel Casa Mediterraneo become the setting for family-style suppers led by chef Katerina Liakos, following her summer stint at Sunset Hotel in Patmos working alongside the Wine is Fine team. There’ll also be plenty of time for island favourites, including Ta Platania’s famous stuffed onions.
It also has one of the most exciting food scenes in Greece, running the gamut from traditional tavernas to natural wine bars and cliffside restaurants taking a fresh approach to Greek cooking.”
The retreat will be hosted at a private Cycladic estate in Sifnos, intentionally scheduled in the quiet aftermath of the summer chaos. Cantina’s sommelier Nikolina Skenderija will run the wine pairings with chef, Konstantina Kasparidou, who was part of Cantina’s kitchen team in its early days and is now at Achladi in Syros, cooking open-fire feasts and on-location lunches. From workshops with a local farmer, Maro – who also happens to make the best Revithada (slow baked chickpeas) on the island – to harvesting olives at a centuries-old permaculture farm and a ceramics workshop with a local potter. For serious foodies, the real draw is access to the kitchens, farms and homes of the people behind Sifnos’ reputation as one of Greece’s great food islands.
With a hotel takeover in the cards, and a hope to host a stay back on your home turf in Australia, what do you hope guests (and yourselves) take away from these experiences?
"We want guests to feel like they've truly experienced a place; our days are always a balance of immersion, indulgence and relaxation, and we want people to leave feeling inspired and energised and, of course, well-fed. A lot of our guests come on the retreats by themselves, and nothing compares to watching a table of strangers come together over good food, wine, conversation and laughter. It almost feels trite to say at this point, but food really is the best connector.”
Catch the next Greek retreats:
Kastellorizo September 30 to October 5
Sifnos October 9 to 14
Madeleine Woon and Katerina van Camp
Founders of NOMS, a curated travel and food platform that is a dedicated ode to eating well, exploring, and evenings spent around the table, Australian-born Madeleine Woon and Katarina van Camp are our go-to travel adventure authorities. Though Amsterdam is their base, they spend much of the year on the move – whether it’s the Italian islands of Ponza or Favignana in spring, or the Greek Aegean in summer. Their travels are led by their stomachs, though they have a charming knack for sniffing out the best places to bed down, from boutique hotels to grandma-run B&Bs, as well as hiking to the most rugged, untouched beaches in the area. Curious and inquisitive by nature, they’re always chasing that exhilarating feeling of discovering somewhere new.
