Food has always been something that brings people together. The act of sharing a meal or providing for someone else is not only seen as an essential part of life, but an act of love.

For human biology sophomore Jackie Good, the kitchen has been a staple in her relationship with both her mother and grandmother.

“My whole life, we started with making sugar cookies for all the different holidays,” Jackie said. “We'd make sugar cookies at Easter time, and summer sugar cookies and Halloween and Christmas sugar cookies. And so that kind of developed my interest in baking.”

Some of Jackie’s earliest memories include her and her mom gathering in the kitchen to make cookies. Her mom would make the dough and roll it out, Jackie would place the cookie cutter into it and her mom would then help her pick it up and put it on the pan. After the cookies were baked, the two would frost them together.

Kim Good, Jackie’s mother, also baked cookies with her mom growing up. Kim was a part of the 4H club, a youth development and mentorship club, where she baked cookies and submitted them to the fair for judging.

“We would practice together and then my mom would give me pointers, because if you make cookies, you wanted them to be about the same size, and about the same texture and about the same color,” Kim said. “It was practicing over and over so you get that perfect cookie.”

Kim said her interest in baking came from watching everything her mom, Everly Post, would bake. Everything Post made was homemade — from breads to cookies.

Post started baking at a very young age after watching her mom in the kitchen. Before she was really allowed to do much baking, she liked to get into the flour and mix things in her own little baking dishes and pans.

“My mother was really quite permissive in allowing me to bake and to cook and experiment, so that was fun,” Post said.

As each of them — Post, Kim and Jackie — got older, they have started branching out and trying more challenging recipes. Post said it’s especially fun to see Jackie’s interests and abilities grow as she branches out and experiments with new things.

Before the three get together, Post and Jackie exchange ideas about the different things they will bake together. They recently made almond croissants and will be attempting vanilla scones made from real vanilla beans this summer.

Last Christmas, Post and Jackie had a baking list longer than the days they were visiting, so they’ll carry it over to the summer. 

While they are frequently experimenting with new ideas, Kim said much of what they make comes from family recipes. One of these is for saucijzenbroodjes —Dutch sausage rolls — which are a nod to their Dutch heritage and one of their favorite things to make.

“Most (recipes) came probably from my grandma and then my mom would make, and then pass on and then now that Jackie's making,” Kim said.

While it’s fun to cook from old and new recipes, the three agree baking is much more than the food that comes out of it.

“I think it's just like the traditions and the memories and the things the food is associated with, (there's) a certain familiarity with them,” Kim said.

When Kim recently thought about making chili and cinnamon rolls, she said her first thought wasn’t of how they would taste, but of her memories making them with her mom and then later with her own kids.

“I think it's just having that common bond, that thing that we all enjoy doing, and it's being able to share what one another are doing,” Kim said. “Just remembering how much we enjoyed that as kids growing up and now something that I can do with my family, and then just pass those sorts of traditions and memories along.”

Post said the joys of baking include being able to pass along values, too. The value of being self-sufficient and doing things yourself rather than purchasing the ready-made or finished product is something she said is especially important to pass along to her daughter and granddaughter.

“I think it's just time spent together,” Jackie said. “The activity of spending time with my grandma is something I look forward to and I'm thinking about it a few weeks in advance. ... We're always talking about what we're going to make and just getting to spend that time together one-on-one.”