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Global lockdowns have prompted a rise in home cooking and baking as people turn to their kitchens to de-stress – which is bringing families, like Sherry Wong’s, together. Photo: Felix Wong

Stress cooking while working from home, a Hong Kong professional gets in the flow, even screaming kids can’t distract her

  • Chinese Canadian finds cooking to be a form of meditation – ‘It takes your mind off of everything around you,’ Sherry Wong says
  • Covid-19 outbreak has ushered in a ‘golden age of baking’, says a counsellor, who likens stress cooking and baking to art therapy
Wellness

Sherry Wong knows her way around a kitchen but didn’t do much cooking at home – until the coronavirus pandemic, that is. The Chinese Canadian has joined a growing number of people using cooking and baking as a way to destress.

Like many people around the world practising social distancing, Wong is struggling to juggle working from home and helping her children with their schoolwork. “It’s an extraordinary situation that keeps changing all the time,” the Hong Kong property management professional, 43, said.

Cooking, she says, is soothing – not even her screaming kids can distract her when she is “in the flow”. Knowing she can feed her family meals they can savour, from a simple chickpea dish to a more complicated carrot cake, is very rewarding.

“It’s meditative,” Wong says. “You arrange your ingredients, make preparations and keep an eye on the timing. It takes your mind off of everything around you.”
On a recent weekend, Wong made this carrot cake. Photo: courtesy of Sherry Wong

Her new-found passion for cooking has brought her family closer together.

“My husband thoroughly enjoys my cooking and is very appreciative. In fact, it has inspired him to give it a go, too. He has perfected a kimchi fried rice that the kids love,” Wong says. The Korean dramas they have been watching, including Crash Landing on You , has influenced their cooking, she says.
During the outbreak, Wong cooked chickpeas for the first time.

People are sharing photos or videos of their cooking during the pandemic on social media, using hashtags like #coronavirusbaking and #quarantinebaking. Stephen Fry, a British actor and comedian, shared his first attempt at soda bread on Twitter. Chinese feminist and activist Wei Tingting posted on WeChat her first attempt at pumpkin steamed buns – as well as her surprise at her success.

“We’re in the golden age of baking created by Covid-19,” says Angela Watkins, a counsellor and psychologist at Red Door, a practice in Hong Kong’s Central district. People who are housebound are filling their time and easing their stress by cooking, which Watkins and others consider to be a part of the art therapy phenomenon that includes colouring, crafting and journaling.
“There’s not a lot of academic research on stress baking, but a lot on art therapy – that it’s distracting, that your pulse rate tends to drop, that your fear response drops,” she says. Research indicates these activities are good at combating stress.
Recent viewings of K-dramas inspired Wong to cook Korean fare including this spicy pork and kimchi stew. Photo: courtesy of Sherry Wong

Panic can trigger physiological symptoms like shortness of breath, and cooking can calm the mind and body.

“There can be physiological and psychological changes that drive this phenomenon. When kneading [dough], you’re not panting but breathing slowly, for example,” Watkins says. The satisfaction from seeing the finished product and connecting with others through cooking and baking can relieve anxiety, too.

Angela Watkins likens stress cooking to art therapy. Photo: courtesy Angela Watkins

A 2016 study, published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, supports this. It suggests that people who frequently take on small, creative projects – like baking and cooking – feel more excited about their plans the next day. The researchers followed 658 people over 13 days and found that such creative pursuits also helped them relax and feel happy.

Paradoxically, the recent upsurge in baking has left some people anxious because key ingredients such as flour are in short supply at supermarkets.

Wong could not find Korean chilli paste, so she made her own. Photo: courtesy of Sherry Wong

During a crisis such as this, in which shortages of products are common because of supply-chain disruptions, Wong says you should relax and make do with whatever you can get your hands on.

For instance, having watched K-dramas like Itaewon Class, she was inspired to make a pork belly and kimchi jigae (a soybean-paste-based stew). It is a recipe that calls for gochujang, a Korean chilli paste, but it was sold out at her grocery store. Wong improvised with an online recipe using maple syrup, cayenne pepper and Korean soybean paste that generated similar results.

The art of healthy improvisation

Sarah Lee Boon Hong of Sweet Secrets has been in the cake baking business since 1999. The Hong Kong entrepreneur suggests those who can’t find regular flour should try using wheat-free alternatives, such as nut flours and all-purpose gluten-free flours – many of which are still available in stores.

A bestseller at Sweet Secrets is vegan, gluten-free cake.
A decade ago, Lee started catering to people with a food intolerance, such as those who follow a gluten free diet, and people seeking healthier ingredients. Today, she bakes cakes using coconut sugar and cold-pressed coconut oil – which adds anti-inflammatory properties to her desserts.

Her cakes are “good for your mind, body and spirit”, says the Singaporean. Sweet Secret’s bestsellers include a wheat-free, vegan chocolate cake made with almond flour and without refined sugar.

Gluten-free flours are also good for savoury recipes, and are often a blend of rice, bean and potato flours, she says. “Mostly the blend is complex carbohydrates or grains, alongside a minority of simple carbohydrate flours, like rice flour.” They are a healthier choice, she adds.

Sarah Lee Boon Hong is the founder of Sweet Secrets.

Expect different results than what you would get from using regular flour, though. Gluten gives baked goods an elasticity that helps them rise in the oven. Home bakers who use wheat-free alternatives risk more crumbly, denser results.

Adapt recipes by adding moisture through the use of coconut, olive or avocado oil, Lee advises. “When experimenting with wheat-free baking … be prepared to test it over and over again,” she says, and be ready to make adjustments.

Like cooking? For Asian recipes to make at home for friends and family, visit SCMP Cooking.

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