Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

by Pam Stone

Dear Aunty Pam,

Why is everybody on facebook posting pictures of loaves of bread they’ve baked? What’s up with that?
Just wondering.

Dear JW,

Maybe it’s their way of dealing with the regret of never completing Home Ec assignments while in high school, and posting their senior portraits nudged that memory? I don’t really know. I don’t bake and I barely scraped my way out of high school.
But aren’t those senior portraits shocking? I’d totally forgotten about ‘Dippity do’!
Anyway, I guess bread baking is a sort of ‘warm fuzzy’ that brings people back to a self-perceived safe and unthreatened feeling of ‘home and hearth’ during this very uncertain time. Our movements are restricted, many have lost their jobs, our entire world has turned upside down. Working dough can both release stress by punching it down as well as allowing one to zen out during the endless repetition of kneading and rolling. Plus, it smells divine.
However, as we know, man cannot live by bread alone. He needs a superb chianti and a good English cheddar to make it through this bizarre time. So, don’t worry, JW, about all the posted photos of fresh baked bread. Be grateful that this latest FB craze is so comfortably domestic. Because what’s sure to follow are countless half-naked selfies of the weight gained after all those carbs…

Cheers, dear!

Aunty Pam