Is there a philosophy of baking? Can the act of making a cake - the precise weighing, the patient waiting, the moment of transformation in the oven - tell us something important about how to live a good life? Dr Helen Goh, who has spent a career thinking about both baking and wellbeing, believes that it can.
 
Food writer and NHS psychiatrist Aaron Vallance will be in conversation with Helen - psychologist, recipe developer, and food writer - about her new cookbook, exploring the psychology behind why we bake and the many ways it nourishes us.
 
Format: Interview & Q&A
Themes: Non-Fiction, Adults, Young People, Headliner, Food, Health & Wellbeing
Access: Hearing Loop
 
Dr Helen Goh  Books: Baking & The Meaning of Life, Sweet
Helen Goh was born in Malaysia and migrated with her family to Australia at the age of ten. After studying psychology, she combined a psychotherapy practice with a career in cooking, becoming head pastry chef at a landmark Melbourne restaurant before moving to London and joining Ottolenghi. Co-author, with Yotam Ottolenghi, of the bestselling baking book Sweet, she has worked closely with him on recipe development for more than ten years.
Her first solo cookbook, Baking and the Meaning of Life, has received lavish praise. Diana Henry said, “I have rarely leafed through a book and wanted so much to get into the kitchen!”, while Nigella Lawson wrote: “Her prose exudes calm and measured confidence, and her recipes always work. This sounds more plodding than I mean it to: beyond her essential technical precision, her mastery of flavour is sumptuous. She is just gloriously imaginative, and makes a gift of this to us.”
Helen is also a successful food columnist whose recipes have appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, and The Observer. She lives in London with her husband and two sons. Find her on Instagram at @helen_goh_bakes
 
Dr Aaron Vallance
Aaron Vallance is a food writer and consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist for the NHS whose blog, 1Dish4TheRoad, has been shortlisted three times for a Guild of Food Writers award. Aaron’s writing for food magazine Vittles has been highly praised, and his debut book, Friday Night Chicken, due out in April 2027, is a coming-of-age memoir recounting the foods, folklore, and traditions of his Ashkenazi Jewish heritage.
Shortlisted for the Jane Grigson Trust Award, the book has already attracted praise ahead of publication. Asma Khan called it “beautifully written. A book which reminds us that food is the language of love,” while Ruby Tandoh said, “Aaron is such a lyrical writer. I always learn something new.” Aaron can be found on Instagram at @1dish4theroad