About Us — Chef Meal Creation

Years of transformative travel

Our Story

Born from a Personal Healing Journey

Chef Meal Creation began with a question: what if travel could do more than entertain? What if it could genuinely heal? Our founder, Yuki Nakamura, asked this question after a profound burnout in 2013 led her to a 10-day Vipassana retreat in Kyoto. She returned changed — not just rested, but fundamentally re-oriented.

She spent the next year traveling across Asia, Europe, and the Americas, seeking out the world's most authentic wellness experiences and asking: what makes a retreat truly transformative? What separates a holiday at a spa from a genuine journey of healing?

The answers formed the foundation of Chef Meal Creation. We launched in 2014 from a small office in Tokyo's Ebisu district with three partner retreats and a commitment to curation over volume. Today, we work with 47 destinations across 18 countries, have served over 12,000 guests, and have never wavered from our founding principle: quality over quantity, depth over breadth, transformation over tourism.

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What Guides Us

Our Values

These principles are not aspirational — they are operational. They shape every retreat we curate and every relationship we build.

🌱

Depth Over Breadth

We work with fewer, better retreat partners. Every venue is personally visited, every program reviewed by our team. We offer 47 destinations because quality allows for nothing more.

🤝

Radical Honesty

We tell guests when a retreat may not be right for them. We turn away business if it doesn't serve the guest's genuine needs. Trust is our most valuable asset.

🌍

Earth Stewardship

All partner retreats must meet our environmental standards. We offset all travel emissions, support community-owned enterprises, and reject extractive tourism models.

💚

Inclusive Wellness

Wellness travel should not be exclusively for the privileged. We maintain scholarship programs and sliding-scale pricing partnerships to expand access to healing.

🔬

Evidence & Tradition

We honour ancient healing traditions and require contemporary evidence-based approaches. Our programs blend the wisdom of the past with the rigour of the present.

✨

Ongoing Care

The journey doesn't end when you return home. Every guest receives integration support — practices, resources, and community — to sustain their transformation.

Our Journey

A Timeline of Growth

2014

Founded in Tokyo

2016

Expansion to Southeast Asia

We establish partnerships in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. Our team grows to 12 and we launch the Wellness Journal.

2018

European Portfolio & Sustainability Charter

We open retreats across Switzerland, Italy, and Portugal, and publish our first comprehensive Sustainability Charter for partner venues.

2020

Digital Wellness Integration

Expanding our philosophy to virtual offerings during the pandemic, we create online mindfulness programs serving 5,000+ participants worldwide.

2023

1,000 Transformations Celebrated

We commemorate our 1,000th guest testimonial with the launch of the WJH Scholarship Fund, making wellness travel accessible to underserved communities.

2026

47 Destinations & Growing

Today, Chef Meal Creation serves guests from 52 countries across 47 carefully curated destinations, with a team of 28 passionate wellness travel specialists.

The Team

The People Behind Your Journey

Our team brings together expertise in wellness, travel curation, holistic health, and sustainable tourism.

Yuki Nakamura

Founder & CEO

Former management consultant turned wellness advocate. 12 years curating transformative travel experiences across Asia and Europe.

Dr. Sofia Reyes

Head of Wellness Programs

PhD in Integrative Medicine from UCSF. Designs all retreat wellness curricula with a blend of evidence-based and traditional healing approaches.

Kenji Watanabe

Head of Partnerships — Asia

Amara Osei

Sustainability Director

Environmental scientist and certified B-Corp auditor. Oversees our partner sustainability charter and carbon offset programs.

Our Mission

"To make the most healing journeys on Earth available to people who are ready to receive them."

We exist to serve the traveller who knows that something needs to change — and has the courage to step away from the familiar in search of something truer.

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We Believe Travel Can Heal