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Tama Matsuoka Wong: An Interview with the Forager Extraordinaire

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We’ve been writing about Tama Matsuoka Wong for more than a decade—first in 2013 when we joined her for a foraging (and eating) adventure on her 28-acre property in Hunterdon County, NJ, then again in 2017 when she co-authored the cookbook Scraps, Wilt + Weeds with Danish chef Mads Refslund (of Noma fame). And more recently, earlier this year, we were swept up by her new book, Into the Weeds, which lays out her “wild and visionary way of gardening.”

All of which is to say, we are unabashed fans—of her forage-focused recipes, of her let-nature-take-the-wheel gardening philosophy, of her passion for plants that are often misunderstood and loathed. “Some are ecologically invasive plants, some are just ordinary garden weeds, and some are native plants that aren’t on the list of showy ornamentals but are part of a vibrant natural plant community,” she says.

Below, the self-described “garden contrarian” shares why she thinks planting doesn’t have to be a part of gardening, which tool she uses to maintain her meadow, and why she always has crates in her garden.

Photography courtesy of Tama Matsuoka Wong.

Above: The “ecologically minded forager, meadow doctor, and lecturer” has written three books. Her first, Foraged Flavor, was nominated for a James Beard award; her second, Scraps, Wilt + Weeds, received the IACP “Food Matters” award. Read about her latest, Into the Weeds, here. Photograph by Colin Clark.

Your first garden memory:

In New Jersey, mucking about in the garden dirt with my mother, and picking wild berries. My mother grew up in Hawaii, climbing coconut trees and she always told me she loved the feel of the earth in her hands.

Garden-related book you return to time and again:

It’s an oldie but goodie: Bill Cullina’s Native Trees, Shrubs & Vines: A Guide to Using, Growing, and Propagating American Woody Plants. I still have my dog-eared version of Weeds of the Northeast by Richard Uva. I’ve also read multiple times H is for Hawk by British author Helen Macdonald and My Wild Garden: Notes from a Writer’s Eden by Israeli writer Meir Shalev. They inspire me. And, of course, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer.

Instagram account that inspires you:

@andrew_the_arborist. @minh_ngoc.

Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

Above: Outdoor dining on her property, surrounded by “weeds.” Photograph by Ngoc Minh Ngo.

Wild, wonder-filled, wabi-sabi.

Plant that makes you swoon:

A survivor plant in its natural habitat and community: whether desert, chaparrel, bog, pine barrens, highlands, low country.

Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

Callery pear tree (bradford pear tree).

Favorite go-to plant:

Above: Tama likes to forage staghorn sumac fruit to cook with. See her recipe for Sparkling Sumac Lemonade Recipe. Photograph by Tama Matsuoka Wong.

Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac).

Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:

Nothing is forever. Plants thrive when and where the conditions are uniquely suited. We can’t over-think, over-design, and over-control these conditions, especially now with changing and unexpected weather conditions. Just be grateful when a plant has an amazing year.

Unpopular gardening opinion:

My mission is not popular: Weeds, by definition are not popular.

Gardening or design trend that needs to go:

The idea that everything in a garden needs to be planted, that we need to “install” a landscape.

Favorite gardening hack:

Above: “These crates are covering newly planted turkey tangle frogfruit, an unnoticed, weedy native plant that likes to grow ‘in wet ditches.’ ” Photograph by Tama Matsuoka Wong.

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