Affordance

This post discusses affordance, what does it mean and how does it relate to the activity I have chosen.

Hagedorn (2000) describes affordance as “anything the environment can offer the individual which is pertinent to role challenge and can facilitate role competence” (p.51)

This quote by Hagedorn helped me understand what affordance really means when relating to cooking. Essentially, we take part in an activity that gives us the opportunity to express our capacity to care, and this enhances that capacity. Through activity we consider the ways that community and culture are engendered by what is done. Consequently I thought about the last meal I cooked and related it to the areas of affordance. To me it is all about what results from an activity. 

I cooked a Stir Fry for my flatmates. I needed to acknowledge that my flat mates had sport practices and wouldn’t be home until approximately 7:30pm. Therefore when planning the meal I made sure that I would have enough food and start preparing it an hour before hand. I made sure I got the chicken out in the morning so it would have enough time to thaw. While cooking the meal, Alecia my flat mate helped.

I can relate affordance to cooking through the aspects of aesthetics, spirituality and health.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics is the potential implicit in the activity for the person to express and enhance a sense of beauty.

During the day I planned what we were going to have for dinner. I made sure we had the correct ingredients and if they were not all available I had to find a solution. While cooking the chicken stir fry I could smell the herbs, spices and sauce that I had added to the chicken. I thought carefully about presenting the meal, I considered the colours and textures included in the dish. When serving the meal I carefully garnished the dish to make it more inviting. My flat mates were amazed at the effect the colour and smell had on the overall presentation and were very eager to taste this delicious dish. 

Spirituality

The main aspect of spirituality that relates to me is the sense of belonging and the sense of meaning.

When cooking the stir fry I needed to take into account what my values are and what my emotional status is like before, during and after the meal. I need to acknowledge why I cook, and how I feel. I find cooking makes me at peace, and it creates a sense of meaning to my home and my flat mates. Using recipes from my grandmother, mother and other family members make me feel connected to them. I often cook for special occasions to show my happiness or even sadness depending on the occasion. Therefore cooking provides me with a sense of meaning. 

Health

The third aspect related to affordance is health. Health can be related to physical or social health.
The most important thing for me to consider when deciding on what I am going to prepare for a meal is the health aspect.  My meal needs to be nutritious and healthy therefore I require fresh vegetables and meat that is not passed the use by date.  Before preparing or cooking a meal I made sure the surface was clear and clean and made sure I was using clean tools. I always make this a priority to prevent an illness or an accident.

Communication

The idea of community is implicit in everything that we do. It gives the opportunity for care, concern, responsibility and respect afforded by the work.

·         Sharing of recipes- This week I used my father’s stir fry recipe. I tend to use a variety of different recipes from friends and family.

·         Negotiation of tasks- Usually we cook as a flat, therefore we delegate tasks for each person, depending on what we are cooking.

·         Discussion at the table- while eating or after the meal we talk to one another.

·         Meals together allow us time to socialise as a flat.

·         Dinner Parties- communication is needed around what is needed and who is coming.

·         Sharing food.

·         Communication around different foods when we invite friends from different cultures.

·         Socialising by laughing, talking, sharing interests and stories.

I think that communication is the most important aspect for me when cooking because it is a great way for me to socialise with my friends and family over a meal that I have prepared and cooked.

Action Properties - Connections

·         Teaching and Learning- being taught by others and learning from them. For example, Dad taught me how to cook this stir fry and I learnt to follow his recipe with success.

·         Borrowing- being able to borrow ingredients from neighbours or simply borrowing recipes.

·         Giving away- giving away meals and baking is important to show respect, sympathy and for celebrations. 

·         Gathering food- gathering vegetables from the garden, meat from the farm animals or eggs from the chooks when I am at home.

Moral Properties

It is very satisfying cooking something, according to Arendt (1958) “the blessing of labour is that effort and gratification follow each other as closely as producing and consuming the means of subsistence, so that happiness is a concomitant of the process in itself, just as pleasure is a concomitant of the functioning of a healthy body.  (p.108)

Not so satisfying is when I am cooking and talking at the same time and forgetting a key ingredient, therefore the dish does not taste as it should. While flatting it is not always possible to have the correct ingredients needed for the recipe so I have to adapt and this is not always as successful. 

Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago: Chicago University Press.

Hagedorn, R. (2000). Tools for practice in occupational therapy: A structures approach to core skills and processes. London: Churchill Livingstone.