Everyone seems to be
baking,
sewing,
whipping
or planting
during the
coronavirus lockdown.
DIY microtrends
are blooming on TikTok and Instagram.
And creature comforts
can be coping mechanisms
for people lucky enough to be at home.
So things that maybe our grandparents did,
or even our great-grandparents did,
we're going back to what they used to do.
We’re going to look at the science
behind why you and your friends
might be baking during the pandemic,
and ask whether
these eco-friendly hobbies
can actually last.
I've got a starter
and a slice of bread.
So this is Eve.
She normally gets fed in the morning,
so this is kind of right before feeding
what she looks like.
This is Emily.
She’s writing her thesis on baking sourdough
in times of crisis.
There is something about fermentation
that people are drawn towards
in these moments of crisis,
whether it's personal or,
like, global.
Baking sourdough
has garnered a lot of online attention
during the pandemic.
For example,
look at this graph.
You can see how
search engine results
for “sourdough”
skyrocketed in March 2020.
It’s not just bread
that people are making at home.
People are also making their own masks
while there are national shortages.
This one is particularly.
It's really simple,
and it's got the nice filter pocket.
I probably made
about 200
altogether now.
But what’s the psychology
behind why people are making
and baking during this time of crisis?
There are so many
possible reasons to explain why
everyone is baking right now.
But to some degree,
it is because of
this positive reinforcement.
Dr. Afiya Mbilishaka
is a clinical psychologist.
She says there are also
behavioral reasons
why we’re seeing quarantine hobbies
on social media platforms.
I think that we've been conditioned.
We know that there have been
so many social media challenges
that have happened
over the past few weeks.
You probably go through your cupboards too,
to think about what ingredients you have.
Can you make that and post it as well?
Then there’s our instinct to survive.
You see,
the 20th century psychologist
Abraham Maslow
said we have
a hierarchy of human needs.
The theory goes,
we are motivated
to fulfill our physiological needs first.
That’s our basic need for
food,
air,
water,
shelter.
I would argue that
baking and preparing bread even
is a way for us to not only
satisfy our physiological need of eating,
but it also can satisfy
that feeling of safety.
Like, I can survive.
I can be prepared.
I will be safe.
I can make it through.
And so by honing these different skills
to be able to feed yourself,
I think, is really empowering.
It helps explain why so many
people are making things themselves
during the COVID-19 crisis.
With sourdough baking in particular,
you don't need that many resources
to be able to make it.
So if you have access to flour
and clean drinking water
and salt,
that's all you need.
The carbs we eat
are broken down in our bodies.
This activates certain chemicals in our brains,
including serotonin,
which can boost your mood.
So serotonin is a neurotransmitter,
and it's so connected to our mood
that it helps us to stay calm.
It helps us to sleep.
And so,
to some degree,
eating lots of carbs and bread
can almost be like an antidepressant.
Sewing,
baking
and gardening
can be forms of
mindfulness.
They can help us cope with stress.
It's a meditative practice for me.
So it makes me feel like
just good and calm.
Even when we're not
maybe able to connect with each other physically,
there's still this kind of larger ecology
that we're all a part of,
which is kind of a hopeful thing,
I think, to hold on to.
But can these economic
and eco-friendly pursuits be sustained
when we come out of lockdown?
Of course,
not everyone
can get into DIY hobbies.
Essential workers
don’t have the privilege
to work from home.
Even before the pandemic,
40 million U.S. households
were struggling
to put food on their dinner tables.
And sustainability
and zero waste
often seem to be buzzwords.
But we know
some people are changing the ways
they spend money in this pandemic.
People are sweeping baking products
from grocery store shelves
while there’s been increased frugality
in other areas of spending.
A consumer study found
almost 60% of its respondents are cooking more.
30% plan to continue to do so after the pandemic.
And we’re seeing other thrifty trends
on our social media platforms,
from saving jars
to reusing Ziploc bags.
And that's kind of nice too,
to take a scrap,
something that you wouldn't
have been able to use
for something else
and being able to turn it into something
so useful.
I hope that we
keep some of this intentional mindset
that we've got right now,
because even in our connections with people
being more intentional,
being more intentional about the things we're doing,
the things we're buying.
So, the question still remains:
How long will our sustainable living
and DIY trends really last?