The Meadow Doctor

Conservation meets haute cuisine in the work of twoMichelin-starred Restaurant

Daniel’s official forager

When Tama Matsuoka Wong looks out at her backyard meadow, where others may see an unruly mess of weeds gone wild, she sees a treasure trove. It contains over 225 native and non-native plants, which she observes, identifies, and forages daily. “I have to do foraging,” she said. “It gets me out, rejuvenates me. After I do some busy or mundane task, I’ll go out and cut juniper.”

The care goes both ways. While she’s out there, Wong assesses the health and stability of her meadow. She notes the coming and going of plants, seeing which ones take a foothold and which seem to die out; she sustains the living conditions of rare or extirpated species and controls the spread of others that could overwhelm. In foraging and using the latter, she said, “you’re helping to keep them under control, which is stewardship.”

New Perspectives

Though Wong didn’t know the term at the time, she realized she had been foraging since she was a little girl. Growing up in New Jersey, her mother regularly sent her and her brother out to pick wild blackberries or dandelion leaves.

After working as a corporate lawyer in New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong for more than

Location: Hunterdon County, N.J.

Business Name: Meadows and More

Favorite Spring Edibles: Field mustard, or Brassica rapa, a weed with a little bit of bite, but not bitterness. Blanch and use it the same way you would use broccoli rabe; it can be wilted into pasta, risotto, or ramen.

25 years, Wong moved back to New Jersey with her family in 2001 and acquired a 5-acre floodplain meadow. She invited some friends who knew about the local plants, and they told her that she had to get the Japanese knotweed under control. “I went on a rampage cutting it,” she said. Then, five years later, some Japanese friends came to visit.

“They bowed and said, ‘We’re so sorry this plant is bad for you,’ and then one of them said, ‘You know, in Japan, we eat this. It’s supposed to be really good for you.’” Wong had an “aha” moment—she realized she could use the invasive plant for something else.

Fascinated, she started studying field guides, attended local classes, and invited anyone who knew about plants to the meadow so she could learn from them. As her knowledge and confidence grew, so did her enthusiasm. “I got so excited and started telling everyone,” she said. “So now organic farmers and conservationists call me and say, ‘Come get this and that,’ which they don’t want. And at the same time, chefs are asking me because they do want them.”

From Meadow to Michelin-Starred Table Wong began supplying wild foods to top chefs in New York by accident. Her first client? TwoMichelin-starred Restaurant Daniel.