Baking and the Meaning of Life

Helen Goh's new cookbook combines (just enough) psychology and (plenty of) pastry.

What a season for baking books! I’m thinking of Dorie’s Anytime Cakes, Ready for Dessert, Chocolat, Dobre Dobre, Sally’s Baking 101, The Secret Life of Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sweet & Salty, Lebanese Baking, 108 Asian Cookies—and this is not the complete list! (This is.)

Then there’s Baking and the Meaning of Life: How to Find Joy in 100 Recipes (Bookshop/Amazon) by Helen Goh, lead pastry recipe developer in the Ottolenghi test kitchen. Has there ever been a better title for a baking book? It’s so good that I was able to use it as the headline for this newsletter, and for that alone I’m grateful.¹

One of my favorite things about Sarah Fennel’s 2024 book Sweet Tooth (Bookshop/Amazon) was its expansive chapter of desserts for one because, yes, I have a very sweet tooth, and I never really find a mug cake—that classic solo dessert—satisfying.

But most of the time for me, and for most of the bakers I know, baking is about creating something to share, to make the people around us happy, to connect. It’s an idea that’s touched on beautifully in many baking books. But Helen, who is a trained psychologist in addition to being a pastry chef, explores this idea more deeply, touching on concepts like coherence, purpose, and autonomy.

In the introduction, she writes:

Why is baking so important in the way we signify and strengthen the things that are meaningful in our lives? In fact, more than that, how is it that baking actually helps create meaning in our lives?

The book is divided into seven chapters: Giving, Receiving, & Sharing; Nurturing; Celebrating; Remembering & Continuity; Community & Belonging; Ritual & Tradition; and Learning, Growth & Achievement. In an essay at the beginning of each, Helen explores how baking can underpin and express these ideas.

Lest any of this sound too serious, paging through the recipes, my first thought was that baking from this book will be fun. Some of the recipes like the allergy-friendly Chocolate Cake for Everyone and Blueberry & Vanilla Sugar Crackle Loaf are easy, homey bakes. Others, like Apricot Galettes with Chrysanthemum Frangipane and the Giant Chocolate Macaron with Chestnut & Chantilly Cream, are creative projects to sink your teeth into. This isn’t a book exclusively for serious bakers, BUT I think the serious bakers in your life would absolutely adore it.

The Pistachio and Pomegranate Madeleines. The book is photographed by Laura Edwards, and every recipe has a photo.

Helen was born in Malaysia to Chinese parents and moved to Australia as a pre-teen. She now lives in London and is the co-author of Sweet (Bookshop/Amazon) and Ottolenghi Comfort (Bookshop/Amazon) with Yotam Ottolenghi. This is her first solo book; we talked about the pros and cons of that below, plus the evolution of the cover, and how she struck a balance between the psychology and the recipes. Thanks for joining us here Helen!

Photo: John Davis

The Cookbookery Q&A with Helen Goh

About how many cookbooks do you own?

HG: Too many to count!

How do you organize them?

HG: By genre—baking, vegetables, cookies, or by country and cuisine. Prolific authors get their own shelf: Nigella has one, as does Cooks Illustrated. And, of course, there’s an Ottolenghi section. I once tried color-coding them, but quickly discovered how frustrating it is to search for a book when you can’t remember the color of its cover or spine. My colleague Gitai at the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, whose shelves are color-coded, insists there’s an easy fix: a quick Google search will tell you the cover color before you go hunting.

What would you say to someone who questions why cookbooks still matter in our “digital age”?

HG: For me, they are entirely different things. Cookbooks go beyond recipes and instructions; they offer a voice, context and a sense of time and place. It’s a narrative and a glimpse into someones else’s kitchen and life, their culture and their imagination. There is a coherence to the collection of recipes in a cookbook that a search engine just can’t replicate. There is also the tactile pleasure of turning the pages, rather than the frantic scrolling mid-stir. Recently someone showed me their copy of Sweet (Bookshop/Amazon), which was splattered and dog-eared with notes along the margins, and it made me think that the book is now overlayed with that person’s experiences and has become a record of her kitchen and her home.

This is the Sweet cover I’m familiar with—gorgeous

This is the UK cover I just discovered online. ❤️

How did Baking and the Meaning of Life come to be?

HG: My idea for the book crystallized in 2023, after the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. A Turkish-British cook had organized a bake sale in North London, and I got involved, delivering cupcakes, cornbread, and jalapeño muffins. My husband joked that it seemed so inefficient, so many people baking for days in order to sell cakes for £2 per slice. Wouldn’t it have been easier to raise money simply by donating cash? And he was right! But what he didn’t see was the energy in the building that day: a bunch of bakers baking with pride and purpose, to contribute to something beyond ourselves. And people coming from all over London in the spirit of a community galvanized by a sense of solidarity for people thousands of miles away, affected by tragedy. Baking is unique in allowing us to express all of this precisely because, in practical terms, it isn’t necessary for survival—no one truly needs cake². And yet, in its creation and sharing, it represents so much more.

Can you tell me how you chose the book’s title?

HG: The book’s title is an homage to Momma and the Meaning of Life by Irvin Yalom, the American existential psychotherapist. Yalom’s influence is in the spirit of the book—how we find meaning in small human acts and how ordinary gestures can become profoundly meaningful.

This is the most philosophical baking book I’ve ever read! You don’t shy away from digging in deep in the intro. Did you get any pushback, say from an editor, a friend, or even your own inner voice?

HG: Yes, I did. At first, my publisher said that as long as there were a hundred fabulous recipes, they didn’t mind what else I wanted to say. But as the book took shape, it became clear that I had more on my mind than simply how baking can be wonderful and therapeutic. That’s when a few jitters surfaced, mainly that I might be muddying the genre, making it harder for booksellers to position it as a straightforward cookbook. But I held my ground. Later, during editing, there were gentle suggestions to simplify some of the more complex or nuanced ideas. I took that feedback on board, and it helped me refine and streamline the psychological chapter openers so they feel both accessible and resonant. Ultimately, I think I got the balance right: a book with recipes that are rich and inviting, but also with ideas that linger even after the oven is switched off.

Tell me about the cover.

HG: The initial proposal was pale pink with green lettering and no image. I loved its starkness, but I worried that the subtlety might be lost on people. We switched to green—my favorite color—but the shade just didn’t feel right. Right up until the deadline, I still wasn’t completely happy, so the marketing team swooped with practical considerations like how the book would look among thousands in a bookstore. An eleventh-hour stroke of genius from the creative team was placing a photo of my Wimbledon Cake on the spine [on the UK and Australian editions]. It’s gorgeous, and I got my green after all!

The UK and Australian cover; the US cover is the same, but without the spine photo.

How was working on a solo cookbook different from your earlier collabs? Pros? Cons?

HG: It was both daunting and liberating. At Ottolenghi, we have the luxury of focusing on what we do best—in my case, developing recipes, while a whole team tests, cross-checks, and tastes along the way, with an editor overseeing the process. It’s incredibly helpful, but with so many voices, it’s easy to get distracted and lose your voice. Writing solo meant I had to trust my instincts. Because this book is so personal and rooted in my own experiences, I also brought in an external tester to ensure that neither nostalgia nor sentimentality clouded my judgment in the recipe selection. It was a significant financial investment, but it gave me the confidence that every recipe was not only delicious but would also succeed in someone else’s kitchen.

What’s the first cookbook you remember cooking out of?

HG: It was the Australia Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book³, that featured a collection of whimsical, child-friendly birthday cake designs. I made the piano cake for my best friend at school who played the piano in the school orchestra. The cake, a baby grand piano had a keyboard made from white chocolate bars and licorice straps, and the music stand was made out of an ice cream wafer, poked into the cake. We were all surprised how effective it was!

What’s one cookbook you read, but don’t cook from?

HG: Nigella Lawson’s Feast. It’s not because I don’t like the recipes, but because the book lives on my bedside table. The writing is characteristically Nigella: witty, vivid and resonant, celebrating food as a source of pleasure, comfort and connection. It’s a manifesto on how we observe rituals and traditions as a way to locate ourselves in time and in community. I never want to be without this book.

What do you find boring in a cookbook?

HG: Headnotes that feel platitudinous, statements like “this is lovely with a cup of tea” or “fruit is best in season,” or other obvious observations. I’m sure I’ve written my share of those myself, especially in the early days of writing my column! I also lose interest if there isn’t a sense of story or context, such as what inspired the recipe, or why its been included in the book, because this connects me to the author, their kitchen and ideas.

What’s a cookbook that changed the way you cook?

HG: Gabriella Hamilton’s Prune (Bookshop/Amazon) inspired me with its untrendy, unapologetically classic approach to food, and her ethos of coaxing ingredients to “find the heart.” I love her willingness to attend to mediocre supermarket produce (when we are constantly implored to buy the very best), to take the “fluorescent tube” out of them and make them “incandescent” on the plate.

What’s a cookbook cover you’re obsessed with?

HG: Ooh, difficult to limit to one but I adore the cover of Jikoni: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes From a Immigrant Kitchen by Ravinder Bhogal. It has lush, hand-painted illustrations of tropical fruits, flowers and birds, including a yellow and black finch and a green parrot! The cover reflect Ravinder’s Kenyan-Indian roots and her playful, boundary-pushing approach to cooking. I love the gorgeous colors, and how well it all fits with the stories within the book - such a joyful exploration of memory, place and belonging.

What’s a cookbook that you think didn’t get enough attention?

HG: NerdBaker⁴ by Christopher Tan, a Singapore-based food writer and cookery teacher. The recipes are precise, interesting and original, and they span the globe. From custard creams to kouign-amanns, boules to ma’amouls, flatbreads and sausage rolls, the book is a cultural adventure and its written with such humor and intelligence.

You’re only allowed to cook/bake from three books (aside from your own) for the rest of your life. What are they?

HG: On the Side by Ed Smith because I often prefer a meal made up of side dishes

Tony Tan’s Asian Cooking Class because this is the kind of food I crave the most

Four Star Desserts by Emily Luchetti, fruit focused and fabulous

Interview has been lightly edited. If you purchase a book through one of these links, I may receive a small commission.

Last Bites

• Don’t Sleep on the TOC, another juicy post for cookbook lovers from Frances Abrantes Baca

• What even is a “healthy” cookbook anymore? A thoughtful deep dive into a recent bestseller.

• In Padma Lakshmi’s Kitchen, the Key Ingredient is Immigration (NYT gift link)

• No bestsellers here this week. I’ll be on an airplane when the list comes out, but will share them in a Note and next week. I will be eating my way through Paris for a few days. Follow along on Instagram if that sort of thing appeals to you!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please tap the ❤️ button, restack, or share with another cookbook fan.

1. Headlines are hard.

2. Debatable, but I take the point.

3. Rawaan Alkhatib also mentioned this book in her Cookbookery interview

4. Note this is the Kindle version. The paperback is selling for $477!