Homaro Cantu

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Homaro Cantu

Homaro Cantu presenting at Cusp Conference 2008 (Chicago, IL)
Born Tacoma, Washington
Residence Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater Western Culinary Institute
Occupation Entrepreneur, chef
Website
www.cantudesigns.com

Homaro Cantu is an American inventor, entrepreneur, chef, and molecular gastronomer. He owns and operates the Cantu Designs Firm and Moto Restaurant in Chicago, Illinois.[1][2]

Early life

Cantu was born on September 23, 1976 in Tacoma, Washington. From the ages of six to nine, he was 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.[3][4]

Professional career

Cantu graduated from Western Culinary Institute (now a Le Cordon Bleu School) in Portland, Oregon.[1][2] 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. Cantu has been approached by numerous Fortune 500 companies to assist in creative ideation and product development.

In the fall of 2009 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 Company 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,[5] as well as some other national media, such as USA Today. Among his dozens of patents pending is a food replicator which Cantu envisions will eradicate world hunger.
  • In 2009 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 Harris. The show played up to Cantu's style of cooking.
  • In 2007 and 2008 Cantu was a guest on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
  • In a 2006 episode of Iron Chef America, Cantu defeated Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto in a battle with beets as the theme ingredient. The high technology Cantu used to create his dishes included a laser to caramelize edible packaging material, as well as liquid nitrogen to create beet "balloons."
  • Cantu was featured on a November 27, 2011 episode of CNN's The Next List.[6]
  • In a 2013 episode of Iron Chef America, Cantu returned as a challenger and faced Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto again in Battle Herring. Only this time, Cantu lost to Morimoto.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Homaro Cantu's Bio". Moto Restaurant. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Cantu Designs - Homaro Cantu". Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  3. ↑ "Wake Up and Eat the Roses: Celebrity Chef Homaro Cantu Explores mberry as a Viable Solution to World Hunger". Business Wire. Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  4. ↑ Mariana Iglesias. "Roadtrip Nation Staff Blogs". Retrieved January 26, 2011. 
  5. ↑ New York Times Magazine
  6. ↑ "Chef Homaro Cantu: Sneak Peek". CNN. Retrieved 22 February 2012. 

External links

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