What Works

EP 431: The Shoulds and Supposed-tos of Baking


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Buckle up—today's episode was inspired by something that got me really worked up this week: "I think home-baking is one of the stupidest things anyone can engage in," says Rick Easton of Jersey City's Bread and Salt.

This episode is about shoulds and supposed-tos, baking at home, and the ways we devalue certain kinds of labor. Whether or not home-baking is your thing, you'll recognize the way value is narrowly defined by culture and, I think, gain new language for the worthiness of work that doesn't fit the capitalist mode.

Footnotes:

  • "Leave the Baking to the Professionals" by Hannah Goldfield, New Yorker
  • Bread, and How to Eat It by Rick Easton and Melissa McCart
  • "On Bread" via From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
  • "What could 'food is political' mean?" via From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
  • King Arthur Baking: Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Loaf
  • Breadhead by Greg Wade
  • History of Low-Carb Diets on Wikipedia
  • "I love bread!" Weight Watchers commercial
  • "Home Cooking can be a Feminist Act" by Nigella Lawson
  • "Men More Likely Than Women to be Seen as Brilliant" via NYU
  • "When Male Chefs Fear the Specter of 'Women's Work'" by Meghan McCarron, Eater
  • "The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" by Audre Lorde, YouTube
  • "The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" by Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider
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    What WorksBy Tara McMullin