“SenSee is a cottage bakery that was born after I changed the way I eat to heal my body from chronic inflammation,” says Victoria Dinh, founder of SenSee—@senseeshop on IG.
Made without gluten, dairy, or refined sugars, SenSee cakes are baked with clean ingredients and local produce, and celebrate Dinh’s VIet Lao heritage—think flavors like Coconut Sticky Rice with burnt banana or ginger honey mung bean filling, recently added to her rotating monthly menu to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Other favorites from her Forever Menu include Orange Miso Cardamom, Pandan Coconut Sesame, and Strawberry Lemon Miso—and they are so good.
“All my cakes are home-baked and decorated with love (and food safe flowers),” says Dinh. Those living in Los Angeles can place an order via DM—for Valentine’s Day, Lunar New Year, birthdays, or just because. Here, she responds to YTTP’s Youth Questionnaire.
Question 01: How do you help others?
I make sure to spread part of my profits around, putting it toward various mutual aid efforts each month.
I also like to think I’m helping people with my cakes. I feel lucky to be asked to bake for people, especially for those who share my food sensitivities. The feedback I get is so special and heartfelt! Cakes are innately celebratory and meant to be shared, and often given as gifts. So there’s this really happy feeling that comes with them. I get to help people spread some love and enjoy decadent desserts that also happen to be gluten, dairy, and refined-sugar free <3 It’s been super rewarding.
Question 03: Where are you most free?
On a solo hike in the woods in Marin County, where I grew up.
Question 09: What is your favorite memory in nature?
My first time mushroom foraging, with my friend Eliza, on the Sonoma coast. Foraging is so meditative, and it makes me feel so present and connected to the earth. After hours without really finding anything we started walking back to the car. We ended up walking on this hill that was COVERED in the most perfect golden chanterelles. That thing happened—when you refocus your eyes and then you see more and more of them everywhere. It was just nature being beautiful and bountiful and when we least expected it.
Question 14: If you could encourage others to support something you believe to be universally beneficial, what would it be?
I strongly believe that we need to be more generous with each other. If we have more than we need, why not share what’s left with others that are in need? If everyone thought this way, wow it would be a much better planet.
I am also a firm believer in the power of mindful eating. What we eat, where we get it, how it’s consumed—all these things affect our health, the planet, and our communities. If we all shared the same awareness of food, we would be much better off individually and collectively.
Question 19: If your energy were visible to others, what would it look like?
I feel like it would look like a crystal clear, flowing creek. I have been told I have a calming energy, I’m a Cancer Rising :)
Photos courtesy of Victoria Dinh
