Wellington Cooking Classes & Feasts

Savour™ offers cooking, foraging and well-being workshops where guests learn hands-on skills, some with a side of culinary history. Most of our classes end with a shared meal at the end where you can savour the fruits of your cooking with new friends.

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About Savour™

Established in 2015 by professional chef and university lecturer Wendy Nolan Joyce, Savour began as a Wellington-based Meetup group bringing together a community of food-curious locals over small-group cooking classes, tastings and themed group dinners. Word spread and soon we were offering regular workshops with talented guest chefs and experts from around New Zealand on topics ranging from fermentation and sourdough, foraging and wild food, plant-based cooking, mindful chocolate tasting and more!

For over a decade, we've been offering our community fun and innovative foodie experiences that connect and educate, from one-off hands-on workshops to corporate team-building events. We also work with organisations such as the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, The Katherine Mansfield House & Garden, Wellington on a Plate and joyfully volunteer our time and resources for a number of charities.

Savour™ offers small group, hands-on cooking workshops inspired by the beauty and bounty of New Zealand. Our chefs teach a variety of cuisines from Italian, Mexican, Persian, Middle Eastern and French, to more technique-based classes on knife skills, cheese making, and foodie experiences such as foraging and wild food.

As its founder, I'm a firm believer that the food we choose to eat directly impacts our physical and emotional well-being. What—and also how—we eat has the power to nourish and heal us as individuals. And when we share food with integrity, sourced locally and organically, and prepared with love, we also strengthen our communities and help support a healthier planet.

At Savour, we grow as many of the vegetables and herbs for our classes as possible in our organic, bio-dynamic garden right here in Wellington. All our vegees are picked right before each class, assuring absolute freshness. We're also big fans of foraging, fermenting and using stuff up. In our classes we serve our unique housemade caffeine-free fruit and flower-based kombuchas (flavours you don't usually see elsewhere: lemon verbena, hibiscus, rose, tulsi & ginger). Offering no-alcohol or low-alcohol drink options that are tasty, sophisticated and interesting is an area we're keen to continue to develop.

I'm passionate about the role food plays in nourishing us, connecting us to each other and the earth, and bringing joy to our lives.

I invite you to check out our Instagram and FB posts where I share pictures of our garden, recipes, and ideas for delicious food. I also send out a monthly newsletter where I share what's going on at the cooking school and share a bit about my own professional development. In 2025 I've completed courses in herbal medicine and am also soon to be a certified yoga instructor with a strong foundation in mindfulness which carries over into how I run Savour™. I hope you'll sign up and look forward to seeing you in a class soon.

Bon Appétit!
Wendy

To find out more and to sign up to the Savour™ Cooking School newsletter for recipes and updates, contact us here.

Jane Smith

"I went to the Persian class and had a wonderful afternoon, and the feast at the end was absolutely delicious. Wendy is a superb chef and host."

Aileen Donnan

"Fantastic 'Indian Feast" workshop, host Wendy is amazing, knows her stuff and is very organised, great venue too! :-)"

Ashia Asmail-Singer

"I loved the foraging and wild food workshop with Mike King, Wendy and Max Gordy all so knowledgeable and was one of the best experiences I’ve had. Thank you!"