Human Behavior Manipulation Via Cookies

I read an article about how U.S. forces used an unusual interrogation technique to retrieve top-secret intelligence from a high ranking Al-Quaeda official. It trumped all of the other approved weapons of choice. Even pitting one accomplice against another by offering a deal if they were first to break silence could not top its success.  One universal truth remained: people are manipulated by an emotionally charged temptation. Was it sex? Drugs? No, it was cookies.  The guy was a diabetic and they offered him sugar-free cookies.  Surprised? I'm not.

My experience with baking started as a young girl.  Miss Betty-Ann (my mom) always allowed us to go into the kitchen and cook.  Sometimes with supervision, like stirring spaghetti sauce as it's assembled. Sometimes not supervised, like the time my friends and I made green macaroni and cheese. It was a place I could pretend to be an adult.  I was completely in control of my eating destiny. I no longer relied on others for nourishment.  Ah, the taste of independence.  My favorite cooking activity: baking. What else? 

Baking always brings sweet treats:  cookies, cakes and pies.  All of which make any child/man/woman/alien/plasma bodied cell extremely happy.  Take the emotion felt at the first taste of cake batter or sugar licked off a finger and you have the recipe for bliss.  Hence, the manipulation technique discovered by our government's officials.  One, however, known by most shrewd women.

Learning how to bake around the age of 9 fast became a fast talent. A bit of a trademark, really.  "Oh you know Kathy can bake great ________." Those accolades placed me in the top echelons of powerful people.  A place I willingly exploit, often,  to my own advantage.

The power comes from manipulation. Manipulation comes from the ability to shape behavior of the recipient.  Let me give you a couple of examples:

•   It is 6:30 on a cold, school morning. Is a burly teenager more likely to get out of bed, in a good state of mind to the smell of cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate? You betcha. 
•  You have had an argument with your husband early in the day. When he comes home from work, you have baked fresh Chocolate Chip Cookies, always from scratch, waiting with the chocolate still gooey and a cold chilled glass of milk.  How can someone be mad at anyone who does this for them?  "It must have not been THAT big of a deal," they think. "I can't even remember what we had a fight about." His mind covers all unsavory feelings with sweet satisfaction. 
•  At a family gathering, your contribution is supposed to be dessert. You make homemade red velvet cake with butter cream icing the likes of which most of your extended family have only dreamed of and ,yet, it's there, waiting like a lover.  Do you think they will think of you as anything but kind? No way. 
  

This is Power with a capital "P".  It can get used and abused just like any other kind.  I prefer to exercise my strength under only the most sly of circumstances.  Usually men and boys find this type of mind twisting the most weakening.  I have never known any one of which who has not succumbed to my baking wiles.  Women and girls are vulnerable but usually they want to know "how" to render the weapon themselves.  Have you ever overheard one man say to another, "Oh, I must get that recipe from you. I would love to make it myself."? I think not.  For women it's the equivalent to saying, "Dude, your gun shot straighter and faster than mine. I gotta get one of those!"  We continue to shoot rounds of cookies, brownies and pastries into the hearts of all the guys in our life whom we love.  I haven't seen one dodge a bullet, ever.  

I once required an apology from someone before they could taste a Peach Cobbler I made.  It worked. My Chocolate Chip Cookies have been bartered at school lunch time for double their volume in other snacks.  Sometimes, offers have been made and completely refused in order to keep them as their own treat.  What a compliment!  It seems self-esteem does, indeed,  come from accomplishment.  One accomplishment I choose to flaunt is my baking prowess.  Nothing lifts your spirits like someone you love noticing the pie cooling on the counter you made and saying, "You are so wonderful." The words, "No problem, sweetie", tumble out of my mouth tasting pretty wonderful to me, too. Considering warm cherry filling is dripping off my own chin.