Affordances & Cooking

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

When relating this quote to my activity of cooking I start to think about the connections between memories while I am cooking.  Last week I was studying with one of my fellow class mates and we were both complaining how hungry we were.  I felt obliged to feed our hungry tummies so I opened up the cupboard and spotted a can of sweet corn and a memory triggered. I could hear Mum’s voice in my head..…”Alex come and watch me make these sweet corn fritters they are so easy and would be great to know how to cook when you’re flatting”. I gathered the ingredients and heard her voice talking me through the steps on making them………Beat two eggs into a bowl, add the can of corn and so on.  My fellow class mate admired me as I created the corn fritters and insisted on me writing down the recipe for her.  This showed how I communicated at a teacher/ learner relationship level.

We both sat down together and enjoyed the taste of the delicious golden brown sweet corn fritters (Joy). I was pleased with the end product and felt proud that I had managed to successfully create these just the way Mum does. I didn’t want the meal to end as in the corner of my eye I could see the dirty dishes piled up on the bench and knew I had to clean them (burden). I stalled for at least half an hour before I had the energy to get up and clean the mess. These are all aspects that fall under the ethics component of affordances.

References:

Hagedorn, R (2000). Tools for Practice in Occupational Therapy: A Structured Approach to Core Skills and Processes. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone