Homaro Cantu
Encyclopedia
Homaro Cantu is an inventor, entrepreneur, chef
, and molecular gastronomer
. He owns and operates the Cantu Designs Firm in Chicago
, Illinois
, United States
as well as Moto Restaurant
in Chicago.
.
From when he was six to when he was nine, he lived homeless with his mother Laurie Cantu and sister Angela Cantu. It is this experience that led him to want to fight world hunger and poverty
and to become a social entrepreneur.
School). Shortly after graduating Cantu began working for free in nearly 50 top restaurants on the west coast of the United States
. He moved to Chicago
in 1999 to work for world renowned Chef Charlie Trotter
. After leaving Charlie Trotter's in 2004, he was unemployed for one year while waiting for his restaurant Moto to open. During this unemployment period, Cantu spent hundreds of hours researching new technologies that he would patent and eventually integrate into his new restaurant. Chef Cantu has been approached by numerous Fortune 500 companies to assist in creative ideation and product development.
In the fall of 2009 Chef Cantu installed a state-of-the-art laboratory in his restaurant, Moto for his new television series Future Food and to expand his research and development capabilities with his company, Cantu Designs.
and Gourmet Magazine to smaller publications in remote areas of the world.
Chef
A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...
, and molecular gastronomer
Molecular gastronomy
Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate, explain and make practical use of the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur while cooking, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary and gastronomic phenomena in...
. He owns and operates the Cantu Designs Firm in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as well as Moto Restaurant
Moto (restaurant)
Moto is a restaurant in the Fulton River District of Chicago, Illinois known for creating "high-tech" dishes which incorporate elements such as carbonated fruit, edible paper, lasers and liquid nitrogen for freezing food....
in Chicago.
Early childhood
Cantu was born on September 23, 1976 in Tacoma, WashingtonTacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
.
From when he was six to when he was nine, he lived homeless with his mother Laurie Cantu and sister Angela Cantu. It is this experience that led him to want to fight world hunger and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and to become a social entrepreneur.
Professional career
Chef Cantu graduated from Western Culinary Institute (now a Le Cordon BleuLe Cordon Bleu
Le Cordon Bleu is the world's largest hospitality education institution, with 35 schools on five continents serving 20,000 students annually. Its primary education focus is on hospitality management and the culinary arts...
School). Shortly after graduating Cantu began working for free in nearly 50 top restaurants on the west coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
. He moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 1999 to work for world renowned Chef Charlie Trotter
Charlie Trotter
Charlie Trotter is a chef and restaurateur.-Biography:A graduate of New Trier High School, Trotter started cooking professionally in 1982 after earning a degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. For the next 5 years, he worked and studied in Chicago, San Francisco at...
. After leaving Charlie Trotter's in 2004, he was unemployed for one year while waiting for his restaurant Moto to open. During this unemployment period, Cantu spent hundreds of hours researching new technologies that he would patent and eventually integrate into his new restaurant. Chef Cantu has been approached by numerous Fortune 500 companies to assist in creative ideation and product development.
In the fall of 2009 Chef Cantu installed a state-of-the-art laboratory in his restaurant, Moto for his new television series Future Food and to expand his research and development capabilities with his company, Cantu Designs.
In the media
Cantu has been mentioned in over 1000 articles in 37 different countries due to his unconventional approach to food, including 7 cover stories from large print publications such as the LA Times, Fast CompanyFast Company (magazine)
Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...
and Gourmet Magazine to smaller publications in remote areas of the world.
- Mr. Cantu's design firm has been featured in the New York Times Magazine, as well as some other national media, such as USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
. Among his dozens of patents pending is a food replicator which Chef Cantu envisions will eradicate world hunger. - In 2009 Chef Cantu filmed his new television show titled Future Food with his co-host and pastry Chef of Moto Restaurant Ben Roche. Together the two take on challenges of today's food issues and use their state-of-the-art laboratory to solve these problems.
- In 2009 he was on an episode of Dinner Impossible alongside actor Neil Patrick HarrisNeil Patrick HarrisNeil Patrick Harris is an American actor, singer, director, and magician.Prominent roles of his career include the title role in Doogie Howser, M.D., Colonel Carl Jenkins in Starship Troopers, the womanizing Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother, a fictionalized version of himself in the Harold...
. The show played up to Cantu's style of cooking. - In 2007 and 2008 Chef Cantu was a guest on The Ellen Degeneres ShowThe Ellen DeGeneres ShowThe Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
. - In a 2006 episode of Iron Chef AmericaIron Chef AmericaIron Chef America: The Series is an American cooking show based on Fuji Television's Iron Chef, and is the second American adaptation of the series, following the failed Iron Chef USA. The show is produced by Food Network, which also carried a dubbed version of the original Iron Chef. Like the...
, Cantu defeated Iron Chef Masaharu MorimotoMasaharu Morimotois a well-known Japanese chef, best known as the third Iron Chef on the Japanese TV cooking show Iron Chef, and an Iron Chef on its spinoff, Iron Chef America. He is also known for his unique style of presenting food....
in a battle with beetBeetThe beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
s as the theme ingredient. The high technology Cantu used to create his dishes included a laserLaserA laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
to caramelize edible packaging material, as well as liquid nitrogenLiquid nitrogenLiquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at a very low temperature. It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless clear liquid with density of 0.807 g/mL at its boiling point and a dielectric constant of 1.4...
to create beet "balloons."
External links
- "Future Food Television Series"
- Cantu Designs
- Fast Company Article: "Homaro Cantu's Weird Science" (May 2006)
- USA Today Article
- Moto Restaurant
- FLYP Media multimedia article: "A Menu with Meaning"
- "Homaro Cantu's website Disruptive Food" (does NOT pertain to Homaro Cantu in any way)
- "Homaro Cantu on The Interview Show"
- Presenter at Cusp Conference 2008