Socially Responsible Food Physics

At first blush, Chef Homaro Cantu causes a bit of a sensation—a wave of curiously static electricity that sets skin to prickle and hair on end, all the while a smile creeping ’round the bend. Ill-fitting words like deconstructionist and mad scientist dance with Wonkaesque playfulness in the image of the Chicago chef and inventor who has forged new lenses for viewing food’s potential via Moto Restaurant, as well as Cantu Designs, the patent-licensing arm guiding his inventive pursuits.

Recently, Douglas J. Peckenpaugh, editor/associate publisher, CULINOLOGY®, had the opportunity to catch up with Cantu to glean some insight into his vision of a veritable intermingling of physics, food and social consciousness—an altogether fresh perspective on our edible future.

DJP: Your work is rather unique. Any influences that pointed you down this path?
HC: Stephen Hawking is always a breath of influence. I think when he says things like if we learn to get off planet Earth in the next 100 years, then we’ll survive as a civilization, that kind of makes an impact on me. What I like to do is think of food as energy, and storing food energy in different capacities is an interesting endeavor. Learning a little bit from physics—and when I say “a little,” I mean very little—and then applying that into food can yield very creative possibilities.

DJP: Did anything from your younger years influence you to become a chef?
HC: I kind of grew up in a poor household and we never really had good food. We sometimes ate government food. We would go to McDonald’s, because it was the cheapest way to get a complete meal. That’s why at Moto, everything is kind of like junk food revisited. Like edible menus, for example: That idea spawned from looking at a billboard for a hamburger ad as a kid and then wanting to eat that.

DJP: It often seems like a concept of social consciousness drives your work.
HC: I think it’s going to drive all of us in the near future. We need to really start thinking outside of the box now as to what food is, how we can truly sustain it... We have to decentralize our food production system. Going local isn’t going to be good enough—local meaning within 10 miles. Are we really going to be willing to go 10 miles for some squash when gasoline costs $10 a gallon?

DJP: Do you see a need to move more technology into the back of the house?
HC: I think that we have to, because the energy crisis that’s coming up is going to be a technological issue. We can’t lower the demand of energy consumption. That is only going to increase. But what we can do is find new ways to process food that don’t damage the ecosystem... Every restaurant that I’m aware of—I don’t care how green they say they are—they’re not green. I’ve got one solution, but we need like 1,000 solutions if we’re going to keep going down this path.

DJP: What’s your favorite current project?
HC: The polymer oven. Just picture holding an oven in the palm of your hand: It’s 350°F on the inside, but it’s cool to the touch on the outside, powered by nothing-other than sunlight ... we’ve got some impossible backing from the government, of all people, to get this thing made, and we’re also going to sell it at retail so people can use this thing at home.

DJP: Have you worked out what the polymer ovens would cost?
HC: Oh absolutely—about what an oven costs. Now just put it into the palm of your hand. The materials cost alone is just a fraction of what you pay for an oven. It’s just kind of a no-brainer.
We need to really start thinking outside of the box now as to what food is, how we can truly sustain it.