EP 431: The Shoulds and Supposed-tos of Baking

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 is What Works?

Work is central to the human experience. It helps us shape our identities, care for those we love, and contribute to our communities. Work can be a source of power and a catalyst for change. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us experience work—even those who work for themselves. Our labor and creative spirit are used to enrich others and maintain the status quo. It's time for an intervention. What Works is a show about rethinking work, business, and leadership for the 21st-century economy. Host Tara McMullin covers money, management, culture, media, philosophy, and more to figure out what's working (and what's not) today. Tara offers a distinctly interdisciplinary approach to deep-dive analysis of how we work and how work shapes us.