About Zest Food Tours

Zest Food Tours® is owned and managed jointly by Catherine Cordwell and Susan McLeary, and established in 2003. Our concept is that the best way to discover a new place is through its food.

We both have personal and professional links to the food sector, and a shared passion for great food, wine and places with quirky appeal.

Starting with Wellington's growing reputation as a culinary centre of excellence, with great coffee, cafes, restaurants, bars and food shopping, we realised this beautiful compact city is ideal for walking tours. There's nothing more sustainable, and our leisurely pace means our guests see the city up close as we share the local stories.

Zest gourmet tours are conversational. Our guides enjoy sharing Wellington's food treasures with our guests, in the way we all like to do on our own travels. We aim to go below the surface, introduce guests to our friends in the food sector so they meet genuine New Zealanders.

We expanded into Martinborough and Greytown, about an hour north east of Wellington in 2005 after Susan moved to the Martinborough wine village, and a boutique vineyard. Dunedin tours started in 2008, after interest expressed from the similarly quirky and food-oriented city made us realise the Zest culinary tour concept would work well there too.

The heart and soul of a Zest food tour is the guide. We have nearly 20 trained guides available to us - all warm-hearted, hospitable 'gourmet encyclopaedias' with a deep interest in welcoming people and sharing food. Our guides add their personality and warmth, friendliness and local knowledge.

A Zest personal tour offers unique access to top food professionals. You'll visit with friendly experts in many culinary fields: on full sensory alert as you see, sniff, sip or even slurp to your taste's content. With such an intimate group, this is a very personal experience.

We were honoured to be accredited in 2009 as a Qualmark Endorsed Visitor Activity, on our first application.

Welcome to Zest.

"My client Joanne has just returned from her trip and asked me to let you all know how wonderful you all were on her tours. She was with you for the Greytown and Wellington Gourmet tours. She could not speak highly enough of your lovely service and kindness."

(Harvey World Travel, Queensland, Australia)