Hi, I’m Brooke and welcome to my food blog! I am an avid home baker/cook and a Food Studies teacher from Alberta, Canada. I love sharing my knowledge and passion for food with young people and fostering a greater appreciation for food in my community.
I’ve always loved to bake and cook, and I remember helping out my mother and grandmothers in the kitchen from a very young age. I come from a family where everything is "homemade," and I feel very fortunate to have grown up surrounded by wholesome food, fresh garden produce, and lively family dinners every night. However, it wasn’t until my first year of university, when I officially moved out on my own and had to cook for myself 24/7, that food became a serious hobby and passion of mine. I began “Brooke Bakes!” in May of 2010 as a way to channel this newfound passion and store all the recipes I found, tested, or created in one place to share them with my family and friends. Since then, my excitement about baking, cooking, nutrition, and food has only continued to grow, and so has my little blog. I now have readers from all corners of the world and am constantly updating my recipe page to include a wider variety of recipes.
The recipes you’ll find on my blog range cover a wide range of cuisines and dietary preferences. I am a vegetarian, so the vast majority of my meal recipes are vegetarian. You may notice that many recipes are vegan or gluten-free as well, as I have enjoyed experimenting with options for different dietary preferences and needs in the past year. I love to experiment and try out new recipes, or adapt old favourites into something fresh. I’m not even close to an expert baker or chef, and I definitely still have a lot to learn in the kitchen, but that's the beauty of food - you can never really know everything there is to know because there are always different ingredients to experiment with and new ways to bring ingredients together.
My Food Philosophy
My personal food philosophy is that we should value the experience of preparing and eating food not just as nourishment for our physical bodies, but also as something that brings us pleasure, ties into our emotions and memories, and brings us together with other people. Another one of my food philosophies is: “All food fits.” I believe that if you live a healthy and balanced lifestyle in the fullest sense of the word, without deprivation, you will be in tune with your body and able to enjoy and appreciate all food – from nourishing to indulgent and everything in between. It’s all part of the balance!
My personal food philosophy is that we should value the experience of preparing and eating food not just as nourishment for our physical bodies, but also as something that brings us pleasure, ties into our emotions and memories, and brings us together with other people. Another one of my food philosophies is: “All food fits.” I believe that if you live a healthy and balanced lifestyle in the fullest sense of the word, without deprivation, you will be in tune with your body and able to enjoy and appreciate all food – from nourishing to indulgent and everything in between. It’s all part of the balance!
Food fuels our bodies, enriches our lives, expresses our cultures, and nourishes our souls. I believe that we should make it a top priority rather than an afterthought. I love that food is something universal to all people, not just in terms of survival, but in the sense that it is something that we can all understand and appreciate. I love that food is something that you can share with others as an expression of love, care, gratitude, celebration, support, and community. Baking and cooking may be useful skills and fun hobbies, but above all else they are the one way I know how to spread love and happiness in this world. As corny as that sounds it’s the truth, and it’s the reason why I decided to start this blog in the first place. To me, good food is best when it's shared. This blog is the perfect way for me to collect all of my favourite recipes in one place and share them with the world - and hopefully inspire others to be passionate about food. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Let’s celebrate food!
