Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/56679
home—and it seems Caplan was made for a life slicing and dicing her way to the top. "I always knew that I wanted to be in- volved with food," she says. In the '80s, she transferred from her school in Japan to the University of Wis- consin-Madison where she found a com- bination of subjects—writing, horticulture and Japanese—that enticed her. Yet her post-graduation career goals in- spired her to set off to a locale perfect for chasing big dreams: New York City. She worked with her aunt in recipe and food styling, and launched a small business in the same realm. When the recession of the '80s proved detrimental to that line of work, it brought a new opportunity for Caplan. The presti- gious Culinary Institute of America, just north of New York City, beckoned. Cap- lan enrolled, knowing that a degree from the Institute could open doors to kitchens worldwide. "[This] was the first time I was completely surrounded by other passionate people who also spent all their time and energy … around food," she says. "It was a very intense and energizing feeling just to be there." It proved to be the right move, setting her up for a career as a corporate chef for the food-world giant Kraft Foods. At its headquarters near Chicago, Caplan tested her creative talents in the arena of product development. While food products were the outcome of her days on the job, she was learning at the same time. "Chemistry and science—that is ulti- mately what food is all about," she says. "And what I learned [at Kraft] has served me better as a chef than almost anything else I have done, because now I understand how food really works." The job was fun (she got to travel the country tasting pizza!) but it served to re- inforce a connection she first witnessed during part of her childhood spent back in the United States—in central California, to be exact. "Living outside of Morgan Hill [Calif.], the land of prunes and walnuts, was my first true exposure to agriculture," Caplan says. At the time, the towns nearby were farm- ing communities. Living among them gave Caplan a sense of how the locals shopped for and prepared their foods. It planted a seed in her mind of building more bridges between residents and local agriculture. To Caplan, it was the most basic connection between people and their meals, and as she moved into her culinary career, she saw it was being lost. The realization proved noteworthy—and the innovative ways she's found to address the farm-to-table divide have since given her a name in the culinary world. Caplan isn't one to sit still for long. Her impressive résumé reads like the outline of an adventure-laced book. If she bor- rowed from the idea of "Eat, Pray, Love," Caplan's story could be "Cook, Create, Enlighten." "I think the best way to define who I am and what I do is to say that I've always been open to opportunities," she says. She left Kraft and found her way back to Madison for an opportunity to create foods she loved in the kitchen at Bluephies. But it wasn't just the rich restaurant scene Cap- lan came to love in town, it was also the appreciation for locally sourced fresh foods that made her feel right at home. In the mid-'90s, she helped form the Madison chapter of Slow Food, a move- ment dedicated to preserving the authentic culinary traditions that make a place unique (think: a Midwest fish fry or a Door County fish boil). Caplan's momentum with Slow Food led to the development of Home Grown Wisconsin, a distribution cooperative for local organic farms that al- lows chefs in cities near and far to access fresh farm produce. Both organizations are still going strong today. It didn't take long for a new opportunity to come knocking. "I was on vacation with a friend and ab- solutely fell in love with the island where we stayed," she recounts, describing a trip to a private island resort in Georgia. "As I was getting on the boat to leave we crossed paths [with the innkeeper] and I mentioned how much I loved the place. My friend told her that my statement meant something, as I happened to be a chef, and the inn- keeper offered me a job on the spot." Caplan couldn't resist the chance to test her skills in a new way. "There were no stores or services [on the February 2012 bravamagazine.com 41