About feast
For the love of food
Our passion
We believe that food is the most intimate expression of culture, and it is our love of food that drives each of our itineraries. Each of our tours incorporates four main ideas: Discover, Gather, Craft, and Feast. On a culinary journey with feast, you will discover the region fully, from historical landmarks to quaint villages to breathtaking scenery. Then, it’s time to gather fresh herbs, pluck ripe fruits, or harvest colorful vegetables to bring to the kitchen. You’ll learn the art of gastronomy, whether by observing the work of a regional producer or applying tips in a cooking course, to craft masterpieces of your own. And finally, it’s time to feast! Surrounded by fellow creators, you’ll get to sample the things you’ve made or that have been made especially for you. Our love of food is many things, but fundamentally is about enjoying an outstanding meal!
In 2021, Philipp Boecker sold his culinary tour operator Sapio, which he had founded in 2005 and which has won countless "Goldene Palme" awards, to Ventura TRAVEL, who then put trust in Sylvia Eisentraut.
With feast we carry on the vision to foster genuine relationships and exchanges between consumers and farmers, local producers and cooks, showing what is possible with a true love of food. Sylvia has brought in her experience as a sommelier and wine brand director, but especially her passion for healthy food value chains, 0KM products and the stories and people behind them. Together with Anna Nikitopoulou and Valerio Figuccio, feast will be growing to offer culinary discovery tours to the seven emblematic communities of the Mediterranean Diet, recognized as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO: Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco, and Portugal.
Your seat at the table with feast
You are the secret ingredient that brings our trips to life! On a culinary journey with feast, you will become intimate with the region and become a discoverer, a gatherer, and a maker. You’ll wander through the landscapes and see the relationship between place and produce, connecting the dots between culture and culinary. You’ll get up close to the people who live there, meeting locals who let you in on expertise that has been passed down generation to generation..
On every step of the way, you are a full participant, immersing yourself in the way of life through hands-on experiences, making dishes alongside star chefs and homeowners in their kitchens. The culmination of every day is coming together and eating, with a fuller understanding of the rich traditions, hardworking people, and sense of craftsmanship that go into each component of a dish. This is why when you take a seat at the table with feast, it is no ordinary chair and you are not an ordinary traveller. We invite you to take your place, inspired by your gastronomic adventure and ready to indulge in all the flavours and textures of the Mediterranean.
Our promises to you
You will be accompanied at all times by one of our amazing and polyglot tour guides.
Every day your small group of curious food lovers heads to the fields, farms, and vineyards where food begins its journey.
Every trip contains at least one hands-on culinary experience and an active visit to the surrounding landscape..
Every day you will savour fresh, local seasonal dishes that celebrate the best regional ingredients at local places or around your host’s table and enjoy the social side of food.
What you will see
The team
We are a young team of travel fanatics and all share a common passion for culinary topics around the Mediterranean. Our experience and love for this topic is what makes us real experts in the field. Our main office, which we share with our mother company, Ventura TRAVEL, is in Berlin, but all feast team members are free to work from where ever they please. So, if you speak to us on the phone, feel free to ask us where we are at the moment. You might catch us in Quito. Or Costa Rica. Or maybe during one of our yearly Ventura off sites, such as in South Africa, Morocco or Colombia where we went last. What can we say: We all love traveling!
Anna Nikitopoulou
Travel Specialist
Passion for languages, cooking and discovering new cultures
Born in Germany and raised in Greece, Anna has experienced two different cultures from an early age. She always loved languages and therefore decided to study English and German in Germany. After a few years, during which she worked as a teacher, she wanted to reorient herself and turn her passion for different cultures into a career. Now she lives back in Athens, the city where she grew up, and works for Feast as a Travel Specialist. When she's not trying to cook a new vegan dish (Italian or Asian is her favourite), she's enjoying the beautiful weather and culture of Greece.
Sylvia Eisentraut
Brand Director feast
Train hard and Race fast BUT Eat slow and Enjoy every sip of life.
Sylvia was born and raised in Germany in an active family, always travelling off-grid with tent and backpack. Her first approach to Italy has been Catania, Sicily for an internship during university, followed by a backpacking tour from South to North and Erasmus studies at Turin, where she still lives today. Her parents put her on skis when she was 3 and threw her in a pool when she was 4. Her uncle took her running whenever she came to visit, and she learned cycling without training wheels, to keep up with the family activities. No wonder, she cannot sit still and is now part of a triathlon team in Turin. Sylvia observes with concern how human cohesion, time and respect, and attention to food are slowly disappearing, and made it her mission to help producers create awareness and recover people's sensitivity to these topics. Being able to help feast travelers explore the UNESCO world heritage "Mediterranean Diet" together with her team and partners, is a dream come true, as no other region in the world has a similar variety of foods, customs, recipes, and wines. She likes to think that every feast traveler is an ambassador, keeping this intangible heritage alive for further generations to come.
Valerio Figuccio
Travel Specialist
Art and food lover
Valerio is a young Roman with a rich background in visual arts and the world of wine. Having spent many years in Germany (Leipzig), he seized the opportunity to bring his vision to life with a personal project involving private Italian wine and food-tasting events. Now, he applies his passion and expertise as a Travel Specialist at Ventura Travel, infusing energy into the dynamic "Feast Travel" project.
Andre Kiwitz
CEO & Founder
Authentic Travel & Modern Entrepreneurship
Andre founded Viventura - the first Ventura TRAVEL brand - while still a student out of a desire to make trips more fun and show travelers the real South America. On the ground there, he set up different offices that took care of travel organization, trip development and customer service. He moved back to Berlin in 2012 and, three years later, he founded Ventura TRAVEL. Since then, he has been supporting tourism professionals who have a passion for a specific tourism niche to build their brands within Ventura. Through this construct, these "intrapreneurs" develop their vision for their destinations, while having an experienced team with professional infrastructure on the background for areas such as finance, marketing, IT, and HR. Privately, Andre enjoys spending time with his wife and son and tries to eat good ceviche as often as possible.
