Homaro Cantu - the sad passing of a culinary genius - far too young

It's with a touch of sorrow that I feel I must acknowledge the passing of a culinary genius this week, and sadly via those same hands that created multitudes of examples of mixing food with science, Homaro Cantu:

 

http://www.eater.com/2015/4/14/8417143/michelin-starred-chef-homaro-cantu-found-dead-in-Chicago

 

Why is it that the human brain is capable of so much brilliance, yet our mind is able in the blink of an eye to destroy us?  Clearly we possess the ability to accomplish vast good for ourselves and the good of mankind, whether thru researching the cure for a dreaded cancer, or "merely" (and I hate to state it that way) to entertain us with the manner by which our food is artistically presented to us. 

 

Homaro was a forward-thinking chef - evidence of that abounds, whether via the Internet, or thru dining at his restaurant, or even in my personal case, simply by being thoroughly entertained by his inventive cleverness and charm when he challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto not once, but twice, on Food Network's Iron Chef America. 

 

As a very young challenger in the 2006 episode, he and his 2 assistants stopped and made time to take what might have been one of the first "selfies" during the heat of the competition, and used edible ink to print out a photo.  At one point, he is seen walking around with a blinking digital message board, about 1-foot wide, hanging from his neck, sending messages out for all to see.

 

Following are excerpts from Wikipedia: 

 

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."

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.

While some critics might not wish to acknowledge his cleverness and playful inventiveness as anything more than a novelty, there has to be some respect shown to him for his work at fighting the battle against world hunger.  Again, an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Cantu saw his edible paper as a novelty to amuse customers, but also a way to combat world hunger. "My goal with this is to deliver food to the masses that are starving," he declared. "We give them something that’s healthy, that has an indefinite shelf life and that is super cheap to produce."^[1] In 2013, Cantu founded the Trotter Project, a non-profit aimed at providing culinary education to students in poor neighborhoods.^[1] He gave away up to 250 lunches a day to kids in the Old Irving Park neighborhood who picked them up at Berrista.^[4]

Cantu's biggest cause was the miracle berry, which he believed could end hunger by allowing people to eat normally unpalatable food. He would regularly donate the berries to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy to make food more palatable to them.^[4] As the co-host of the 2010 Discovery Channel TV show Future Food, he spent a week on a diet of miracle berries and common weeds, grass, and leaves he found in his backyard.

For me, his passing draws memories of other sad and recent losses.  In just a few weeks, it will have been a year since my brother died from complications from a seemingly-botched surgery, tho that did reveal that he also had a previously undetected cancer coursing thru his body.  Likewise, 2-1/2 years ago, tho not connected in any way, within weeks of my mother's passing away, a neighbor took her own life via hanging, as did Homaro this week... 

 

Condolences to his wife and 2 young daughters.  Gone too soon - RIP...