In an episode of The Lawyers Weekly Show, Ms Pulbrook said her experience in law and commercial kitchens has allowed her to gain a unique perspective on the lessons one industry could glean from the other.

In particular, she said the legal profession could offer several lessons to the food world, including the level of professionalism that is appropriate in the workplace.

Since her stint as a MasterChef contestant, Ms Pulbrook has been employed by commercial kitchens, where she observed human interactions.

She stated that the subtle but chronic behaviours in kitchens straddled between being “laid back” and casual and “borderline toxic”.

“I didn’t expect certain issues of feeling unsafe as a female in kitchens today. Females that I worked with would share their stories with me,” she mused.

While acknowledging that there are flaws in every profession, she added that while she faced issues in her first role as a paralegal when she was 19, she was surprised to find similar issues in kitchens today.

“I was just so shocked that these things are still going on. I would think to myself, ‘gee, I’ve written notices of risk for behaviours that were better than this’,” she said.

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As such, Ms Pulbrook underscored that the food industry could benefit from emulating the level of professionalism and respect for boundaries practised in the legal profession.

Studying law at university and practising as a lawyer has also equipped Ms Pulbrook with time management skills, which was vital for her to thrive in MasterChef and the wider food industry.

Commercial kitchens are more frenzied than law firms as customers expect to receive their product immediately, Ms Pulbrook said, and the adrenaline rush is more intense.

Chefs do not have an opportunity to seek extensions or explain why there was a delay in the workflows.

“My time management had to be astute from quite early on,” she highlighted.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do as well as I did in my VCE if I wasn’t conscious of the minutes in the day that were available to me or the gaps in the day.

“I once read something … there are some people in this world who use every inch of the day like an Italian farmer uses every piece of the pig from nose to tail. My awareness of maximising study time, maximising downtime, rest time, understanding my needs, my physical needs, my time alone if I needed it, was really important and something that I had learnt from prior life experience.”

Mindful eating

Ms Pulbrook’s appreciation for fresh produce and awareness of how one can safeguard one’s health through food has also increased due to her background in food and experience on MasterChef and in commercial kitchens.

She said she respects produce and is aware of where she has sourced it (whether she has grown it herself or purchased it at a farmer’s market).

As for how other lawyers could enhance their health by changing their relationship with food, Ms Pulbrook advised them to visit their farmer’s market on the weekends before 9 o’clock in the morning to access discounted fresh produce.

Secondly, creating weekly meal plans could help lawyers understand how much time they have and how much time they would require to cook fresh meals.

“You could try and adopt that master chef mindset of, you only have 15 minutes to make a seafood dish. Well, if that was the case, what is practical or realistic within that time constraint?” she asked.

She concluded by encouraging lawyers to adopt a balanced diet and eat with mindfulness in order to be grounded, instead of “scoffing and walking”.

To listen to Elise Pulbrook’s full podcast, click here: