Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Forager

Meet Tama Matsuoka Wong, a former in-house counsel who is now the official forager for Restaurant Daniel.

Last week, in the inaugural installment of our Career Alternatives video series with our friends at Bloomberg Law, we brought you the story of Lisa Granik, a lawyer turned “Master of Wine.” She’s living the dream, drinking and thinking and writing about wine for a living.

Well, how would you like some food to go with your wine? Today’s career alternative for attorneys: forager.

Forager? Does ordering something on Seamless count? Is Tristan Taylor Thomas looking for food in the trash again?

No, no. This foraged food gets eaten at one of America’s most acclaimed restaurants, by folks who pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege. And the forager, who graduated from a top law school, walked away from a high-powered legal career….

Say hello to Tama Matsuoka Wong. After graduating from Harvard Law School, she worked for a law firm. Then she went in-house, working as in-house counsel for such Wall Street giants as Citibank and Merrill Lynch. Sounds like a fairly standard, successful trajectory for an HLS grad, right?

But then Wong went down a different path. She’s now the official forager for Restaurant Daniel, the flagship restaurant of Daniel Boulud, the internationally acclaimed chef. She also has her own company focused on foraging, Meadows and More, and has written a book on the subject, Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market (co-authored with Eddy Leroux, chef de cuisine at Daniel).

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How did Wong make the transition from spotting issues to spotting pine needles (of the edible and delicious variety)? Check out her interview with Spencer Mazyck of Bloomberg Law:

Stealth Lawyer: Tama Matsuoka Wong, Forager for Restaurant Daniel [Bloomberg Law via YouTube]
Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer’s Market [Amazon (affiliate link)]
Meadows and More [official website]

Earlier: Career Alternatives for Attorneys: Master of Wine

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