About

I have always enjoyed baking but upon discovering sourdough, it became a sort of obsession. There’s something tremendously special about the art & science of building the dough, using your hands to shape and nurture it, and wait for time and heat to do its work.

Since moving to Oakland from LA and taking time before jumping into a job – I have decided to pursue baking professionally. While trying to find a badass bakery that will take me on, I’m slinging loaves in my tiny cottage kitchen and riding my bike to bakeries to do “research” (aka on a mission to eat all the croissants in the city). And trying to start a little bakery project where Oakland friends can buy in to my Emie’s Bread & Butter Club to receive fresh sourdough loaves weekly!

The Evolution of Emiesfoodforthought

An East-Coast native, I moved to Los Angeles to study Sociology and Urban & Environmental Policy at Occidental College. After graduating, I jumped into nonprofit organizations working to make Los Angeles a better place. While working hard to build up communities and improve opportunities for underserved Angelenos, I struggled with stomach aches and headaches. This led me to take an increased interest in cooking because I was on strict diets and instead of feeling limited by these restrictions, I felt empowered to take control of the food that went into my body. I began baking my own bread, simmering my own sauces, and pickling my own vegetables. That’s why to me, making my own food at home from good ingredients, feels so damn good – it’s like sticking it to the man and saying fuck you for thinking I can’t make this myself and for trying to convince me to buy the crappy stuff.

I originally created this blog as an outlet to share about my journey related to DIY food, health and cooking.As work got even busier in the last year, I stopped writing on the blog but certainly didn’t slow down in the kitchen. My Instagram has continued to document my kitchen escapades which have become more and more dominated by sourdough experiments!

Since then, Alex and I moved to Oakland and now without the workload I had before, I am determined to dust off my blog and revamp it and refocus it on my sourdough creations and attempts at pursuing baking professionally in the Bay Area!

Food Philosophy

I am most definitely the product of my food-centric family. I grew up in a household where the experimental culture around food was a necessity – mom was gluten-free before it was cool (celiac disease is no joke), older brother was a picky eater, oldest brother was a vegetarian, dad watched his cholesterol, and I was supposedly lactose-intolerant. Though I didn’t necessarily take an active role in cooking early on, I was definitely exposed to kitchen experiments (sometimes gone wrong) and knew that food was something that brought us together.

These days, I live with my partner in all things – including cooking, Alex. Lucky for me, Alex also grew up in a family where food was homemade and health was a focus. Shaped by our families, our collective food culture continues to be experimental, with a focus on health and making food by hand. Both passionate about the natural world, our food choices and home lifestyle are also very much influenced by our attempts to be more environmentally conscious.

More about me?

I play ultimate frisbee competitively, do yoga sometimes, adore dogs always, camp & hike not as much as I’d like, vote democrat always without fail, travel when possible, drink wine&beer (responsibly) as a hobby, watch too much television, and spend a lot of time with my family. And now, I write a blog!

 

 

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