Baking & the Meaning of Life: Finding Joy in the Kitchen with Helen Goh

On the podcast, I recently chatted with Helen Goh, an esteemed baker, author, and food columnist. Based in the UK, Helen draws on her Malaysian roots and Australian upbringing in everything she makes. She is the co-author of the books Sweet and Comfort with Yotam Ottolenghi, and writes food columns for The Guardian and The Observer. Her new solo cookbook, Baking & the Meaning of Life: How to Find Joy in 100 Recipes, brings together her two great passions — baking and psychology — to explore the deeper meaning behind why we bake.

In this episode, we chat about her unlikely path from pharmaceutical sales to professional baker, the joy of sharing and connecting with others through baking, and the deeper meaning we find in every recipe.

Listen to the full episode or keep reading for some of the highlights from our conversation.

How Did You Get Started Baking?

It is a bit of a long story, but when I finished school, I wanted to be a psychologist. Before I could do that, I worked in pharmaceutical sales. Instead of going door-to-door, I discovered I could draw a large captive audience by inviting people to lunch. I also discovered that I was far more interested in what was being served than anything I had to say about medication.

Around that time, I decided to open a café with my then-boyfriend. It was in that café that I discovered I truly loved to bake. One day, a journalist came and wrote on the front page of the paper that my cake was the world’s best chocolate cake. Everything took off from there. We eventually sold the shop, but I had found my calling in baking.

Years later, I went back to pursue my postgraduate degree in psychology. I studied during the day and worked as a chef in the evenings. 

“It was the power of youth, naivety, and insanity — working both jobs at once meant I worked crazy hours, but it felt right at the time.”

Then I met my husband and moved to London. One day, I wandered into the Ottolenghi in Notting Hill and was completely seduced. Yotam and I have been talking ever since, and we went on to create our two books together, Sweetand Comfort.

Tell Us More About Your Book, Baking & the Meaning of Life

The title of my new solo book, Baking & the Meaning of Life, is inspired by Irvin Yalom’s book Mama and the Meaning of Life. The idea I took from it is that all the ordinary moments in life, stitched together, make for an extraordinary one. Similarly, I found that if you look at all the cakes I’ve ever made together with the moments that surround them, it all makes for an extraordinary life.

My book explores the psychology behind why we bake: our motivations, our rituals, the meaning we make through the act itself.

The chapters aren’t organized by meal type or ingredient. They’re named for the things baking actually does: giving, receiving, sharing, nurturing, celebrating, remembering, community and belonging, ritual and tradition, learning and achievement. To build the ideas for each chapter, I thought about the cakes I’d made over the years and the contexts in which I made them. 

One thing I love about baking is that it starts as something deeply personal — just you and your focused attention — and then it becomes something social, because you almost always share what you make. I also love how baking helps us capture traditions and rituals: take, for example, Chinese New Year tarts, Christmas cakes, Easter buns, or Ramadan cookies. Baked goods have a unique way of marking and commemorating special moments.

Learn more

Listen to the full podcast episode with Helen. You can learn more and follow her on Instagram @helen_goh_bakes.

Baking Recipes that Bring Joy

Buttermilk Banana Bread
Pear Walnut Cake
Rhubarb Cake