Why I Bake

Today as I sat at the kitchen table, mixing poppy seeds into cookie dough, my house mate Lynda asked me what motivated me to bake cookies so often. I thought about it for a second, and told her that "I guess they taste good, are cheaper than the ones I could buy, and it's fun." But as I deployed the dough into formation on the cookie sheet, it got me thinking. Really, why do I enjoy baking so much?

Part of it may be my interest in chemistry, which was until a few years ago more important to me than computer science. There's a strong parallel to chemistry in baking; watching all the ingredients combine and react until I've created something that's larger than the sum of its parts.

Both chemistry and programming create something new, but there is much more unpredictability to code - the underlying reality can vary from installation to installation, and it can even change under your feet. Chemistry is solid and predictable. So is baking, now that I've achieved a certain level of skill at it. It's solid, real, and tactile.

When I bake my mind can wander free, unconscious of the worries and stress of the world. I don't have to plan for problems and the unexpected; everything just works.