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It is=20 6.30am and Ben Wright, former corporate lawyer at Allen & = Overy, is=20 weaving through the City in his white van delivering = top-of-the-range=20 oysters to the kitchen doors of the restaurants he once frequented = to woo=20 clients and celebrate takeovers.

These days, he brokers up to 15 varieties of oysters and = relishes his=20 stints as "white van man", handling a tonne of shellfish a = morning.=20 "There's nothing like handling your own produce," he says. Wright = is a=20 striking example of a growing breed of City "pro-tirers" = questioning their=20 corporate careers and opting to embrace new ventures, driven by = their=20 passion for good food and desire to make it central to their work=20 life.

Anecdotal evidence from career consultants Career Energy = suggests that=20 lawyers, bankers and brokers are fulfilling their food fantasies = and=20 turning deli-owners, artisan producers, farmers, importers of = gastro-finds=20 and restaurateurs.

Such a decision takes courage, motivation and a readiness to = incur=20 risk. However, it was the compelling taste of freedom and the=20 incomparable, delicate, mineral, almost nutty flavour of the = oysters that=20 fired Wright to exchange the City for shellfish trading as Wright = Brothers=20 (together with his brother-in-law, Rob Hancock, formerly a music=20 producer).

Ben met Marenne oyster farmer Jerome Miet more than 10 years = ago.=20 "Zipping off on a chalton [flat-bottomed boat] early one morning = and being=20 surrounded by miles of oyster beds and eating the freshest, = plumpest=20 oysters straight out of the ocean was a life-changing experience. = There=20 was no going back," recalls Ben.

Spending two years at Allen & Overy's Paris office allowed = plenty=20 of opportunity to indulge his growing passion for oysters. Then, = back in=20 the City, he couldn't understand why they remained relatively=20 under-appreciated in Britain.

"Not only in Paris but in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, = oysters are=20 bought without undue ceremony and appear on menus everywhere," he = says

The start-up challenge of importing Miet's oysters to London = was=20 irresistible. The two men started by cold-

calling chefs from a restaurant guide. "Seeing a chef eat one = of our=20 oysters and pronounce it the best they've ever eaten is more = intensely=20 rewarding than signing any contract or completing any merger or=20 acquisition," says Ben.

Wright Brothers now supplies a roll-call of top restaurants, = from The=20 Wolseley to J. Sheekey, with British and French oysters.

While it is easy to romanticise such a business plan, Wright, = in common=20 with other pro-tirer foodies, emphasises how transferable his = corporate=20 skills have proven. Instead of buying and selling blue-chip = companies,=20 he's finalising the lease for the Wright Brothers' Oyster House in = Borough=20 Market, which is due to open soon.

"Once a market trader always a market trader," roars former = investment=20 banker Jan McCourt, one of the first to risk a pitch at Borough, = as he=20 trades impressively marbled Dexter and White Park traditionally = reared,=20 rare-breed beef. After a decade, he considers himself a veteran = foodie=20 pro-tirer and still enjoys the "buzz and joyful camaraderie" of = the=20 market.

He explains that he bought Northfield Farm in Lincolnshire with = a view=20 to early retirement. However, redundancy put paid to such forward=20 planning. With a rudimentary farm shop approved by planners and a = crash=20 course in butchering bolstered with a potent mix of na=C3=AFve = conviction and=20 greedy passion, he met BSE at its height full on.

"My timing was a textbook disaster," he says. "Yet, people did = starting=20 paying attention to what they were eating, which galvanised = interest in=20 rare breeds. What's more, customers took umbrage over being = dictated to=20 with the beef on the bone ban - dogs were bought an awful lot of = T-bone=20 steaks!"

Cattle farming was very much in the family genes of BP mergers = and=20 acquisitions broker Andrew Loftus, who felt inexorably drawn back = to his=20 roots but wanted to bring farming more directly to the urban = public with a=20 sophisticated, contemporary city farm shop.

At Wooton's, shortly to open in Harrogate, North Yorkshire,=20 traceability will be the watchword: products will be labelled with = food=20 provenance and food miles: hence locally produced beetroot and = radish=20 soup, ginger ice-cream made from Yorkshire goat's milk, pies with = locally=20 reared pheasant, even sushi with Whitby crab. "I want to offer = food that=20 you can't get anywhere else, sourced as locally and seasonally as = possible=20 with real taste and wow factor," promises Loftus.

New York-born Patricia Hamzahee relinquished investment banking = to open=20 smart gastronomia La Bottega del Sole in Fulham, west London, = which sells=20 its own impeccably made soups, risottos, salads and dinner = party-fit=20 dishes, besides offering high-end delicatessen products. "I'm = catering for=20 the kind of customer I used to be - never having time to shop, let = alone=20 cook, despite being passionate about food," she explains.

Hamzahee typifies the pro-tirer: hard-driven individuals with a = strong=20 work ethic and appetite for culinary risk-taking. Their "culinary=20 cross-sizing" means re-evaluating the high-flying City job for = another,=20 often equally demanding, vocation driven by a passion for good = ingredients=20 and eating.

Formerly a Wall Street and Lehman Brothers investment banker, = Hamazahee=20 thrives on "immediate feedback from customers. It's very different = from my=20 former life, where I felt quite removed from the end product. I'm = elated=20 if customers praise a new dish. Food is convivial currency: = strangers=20 start chatting about what they enjoy eating at the deli's shared=20 table."

The lure of bringing Rome's stone-baked pizza bianco = Romano,=20 little known beyond the city's Campo dei Fiori, to the City of = London=20 proved irresistible to Stefano Nicolai and Spanish business = partner=20 Saturnio Machancoses, who abandoned their internments at Morgan = Stanley=20 after a mere two years. They identified a gap in the City lunch = market for=20 a more sophisticated alternative to the ubiquitious sandwich = chain. After=20 convincing a respected Roman baker to "fast-track" them in baking=20 techniques, they gained hands-on experience in city sandwich bars, = and=20 convinced erstwhile colleagues to invest in their start-up: = Spianata, in=20 the shadow of St Paul's Cathedral.

"Talking optimum crust texture, where to source the finest = mozzarella=20 and how to enjoy a Mediterranean lunch culture, however speedy, = has given=20 us the opportunity to be involved in a business driven by our = palates=20 rather than our promotion prospects," says Stefano, who plans to = open a=20 further two Spianata outlets this year.

"Good food had always figured very large in my life, not just = as an=20 enthusiastic consumer but also as a keen cook inspired by my = grandmother's=20 insistence on using only the best market ingredients," recalls = former=20 Equity analyst Christian Oddono, originally from Verona. "After = all, I'd=20 been assessing others' investment plans for long enough and = applied=20 similar feasability strategies to introducing Londoners to real = Italian=20 gelato."

The success of his ultra-contemporary caf=C3=A9-gelaterie, = Oddono's in South=20 Kensington - local restaurants report with disquiet that diners = are=20 forsaking dessert for a post-prandial gelato - has exceeded = Oddono's=20 projections. Wholesale business is booming and further outlets are = imminent.

Tony Dodd, once a corporate broker with Credit Suisse First = Boston,=20 says of his move away from the world of big business: "I didn't = have a=20 Damascene culinary revelation. It was more a gradual realisation = that I=20 was no longer in tune with City ethics."

His interest in how food is produced and marketed and the = importance of=20 being more environmentally responsible developed from a sabbatical = year=20 taking a masters in Environmental

Policy at the London School of Economics. Two years ago, he and = his=20 fanatically foodie partner Angie (whose background was in film = marketing)=20 moved to Cornwall with their young son. They set about finding the = most=20 committed local producers and set up mail-order food business = Seriously=20 Good.

"Forging relationships with producers such as Nick Michell of = Barwick=20 Farm - whose organic golden Jersey butter is hand churned from = milk from=20 his own herd - is a revelation and re-affirms my vision that = working and=20 eating more sustainably is not incompatible with economic success. = Michell's passionate commitment to traditional methods is = humbling."

Light years ahead of the international corporate cross-sizing=20 zeitgeist, Tim and Nina Zagat, former Wall Street lawyers, = instigated=20 Zagat guides to steer diners of their ilk to the right kind of = places to=20 do business. In London, fledgling fund managers Mark de Wesselow = and Simon=20 White identified a similiar gap and launched the Square Meal = restaurant=20 guide 10 years ago.

"Extraordinarily there was no bespoke guide to the 250 plus = restaurants=20 and bars in the Square Mile. It turned out our idea had greater = legs than=20 we first gave it credit for," explains de Wesselow. With the UK = restaurant=20 scene on a roll, the increasingly influential Square Meal Guide = now=20 encompasses the whole of the capital's dining spectrum.

Inevitably, the ranks of City pro-tirer foodies have been = swelled by=20 self-styled gastronauts, used to dining at the swankiest tables, = who are=20 increasingly dabbling in restaurant investment. Yet, back in 1993, = when=20 Sorren Jessen, an executive director of Goldman Sachs, backed his = friend=20 Oliver Peyton's Atlantic Bar & Restaurant "no-one in their = right mind=20 considered restaurants sound investment vehicles".

Jessen was smitten. "Tasting wine in France or talking mutton = in the=20 Lake District beats boardroom pension fund meetings any day. It's = dealing=20 with raw, real values." He took the then staggering risk of = converting a=20 former banking hall to a dining room. "Effectively, I'd done nine = years of=20 wining and dining research in the City and knew what the market = needed."=20 He has since added Noble Rot and Graze to his portfolio. = Significantly,=20 One Lombard Street is the City's only Michelin-starred = restaurant.

Gustatory passion, it seems, is a precious thing.

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