Chef Frank Caputo respects tradition, works to innovate

When Chef Frank Caputo steps out on an expansive terrace next to Hope Springs Farm to welcome a couple hundred guests to CCAP Arizona's second Harvest Moon event on Oct. 27, he won't just be expressing a part of the Cancer Treatment Center of America's (CTCA) mission.

He'll be presenting his personal investment and commitment to providing food that both delights and sustains people, while also demonstrating his dedication to passing along kitchen skills to young culinarians.

"We're a cancer center,' he says, "but we're also deeply involved in our community and in health education. And we routinely do events here for 500 to 900 people, including informal and formal dinners."

More than that, he admits, "Food and feeding people - it's in my blood."

His grandparents owned a farm, and other family members (including his parents) owned and operated a restaurant just outside Pittsburgh, PA.

"We've grown and worked with food so much and for so long, I really believe it's in my DNA," Caputo says. 

He calls himself "a classic kitchen workaholic," and says that as a young chef, he became "hell bent on learning classical preparation." 

To that end, he received his associate's degree from the Culinary Institute of America, and "I also spent more than 15 years working with a certified master chef.

"His tutelage helped instill a fail-safe approach in the kitchen.  It's built on a foundation of respect and tradition that allows you to develop innovative approaches in preparations and presentations."

It's that understanding that inspires his interest in working with students, he says.  "I see it as an opportunity to help young persons determine their life course."

CCAP's Harvest Moon Dinner, he believes, is a great opportunity to showcase Hope Springs Farm (the organic acreage being developed in cooperation with the McClendon family and McClendon's Select produce and farm), CTCA's commitment to both community and organic food, and CCAP's mission to further culinary education.

   

"I see this as a wonderful way to give CCAP students - who we already know are committed to furthering their culinary education and careers - an opportunity to practice what they've learned.  You really need events like this to expand your breadth and experience."

Chef Frank is also candid about what chefs such as he is get out of working to establish firm links through community service.

"I work in an environment that depends on high performance.  My own standards demand that I strive to meet ever higher levels in performance.

"My profession is based on an everyday necessity: we must eat. Our centuries-long tradition is that we break bread together. 

"Food can't cure cancer, but it's part of a bigger picture: a wellness path for any and everyone in the community.  We - or at least, I! - can see a possibility for positive results within our community."

He genuinely believes in both CTCA's and CCAP's missions, and is committed to working with both to reach similarly high goals.  He'd like to be a role model for CCAP students, demonstrating through his work "how much there is to learn about food. 

"There is nothing new about cooking (fresh-from-the-garden) produce, but there are different techniques.  There is just so much to learn! And I would like to be a role model, building on a foundation of respect for tradition - and thoughtful and creative in innovation."