Affordance

It has taken me a while to understand what affordance means within my topic of cooking. However, after discussing this further in class today i feel that i have a better understanding of it. As a way to understand it i was asked to think about the last thing i cooked and relate it to the areas within affordance. This is what is came up with:

My understanding of affordance is that it is something that comes out of an activity, in my case cooking. Hagedorn (2000) describes it in more detail, stating that it is "anything which the environment can offer the individual which is pertinent to role challenge and can facilitate role competence" (p. 51).

The last time i cooked was last night when i made dinner with my flatmate. This meal took a lot of preparation and planning, but it was a lot of fun.
Communication was a large part of what was involved with cooking this meal. My flat mate and i discussed what we felt like cooking, joked that we didn't have enough money to pay for the meal, and had to motivate each other to go the the supermarket to get the main ingredient of falafel. The preparation of this meal - which involved walking to and from the supermarket, buying added ingredients and cutting up the ingredients - was the largest stage for communication as it involved jokes, sharing interests, talking about what to do in the weekend etc. The actual task of cooking the meal was more structured as we discussed how to cut things up and how long to cook the ingredients for. This involved learning new techniques, respecting each others choices, non verbal communication and negotiating with one another. I find that working with someone else, especially with cooking, it is crucial that you can communicate well as this not only makes the experience easier but also more enjoyable.
Health was also a large part of cooking this meal. Myself and my flatmate have an understanding of preparing a meal with fresh ingredients, on a clean and clear surface, using clean tools. This is something that we automatically are aware of or do as we know that not being aware of these can cause injuries, illness and can make the task stressful.
Other areas that are important to consider when looking at the task of cooking and affordance are Connections - gathering and borrowing tools and ingredients, using the task as a way to express my creative side, and ensuring that i meet the expectations that i or others have as this causes a greater sense of achievement once the meal is completed,
Spirituality - taking into account my values involving cooking, acknowledging that when i cook i am relaxed, enjoying the experience and that it has a sense of meaning to me.

Looking back at what i have write about this particular cooking experience, and that i have identified that communication was the key area that come from this activity, i can see how this may be different in other cooking situations. For example, when i am baking i enjoy doing this alone and find it very peaceful and it tends to connect with someone because i am uses a recipe that has been passed down, cooking for someone, or using what i have learnt from my mother. Therefore, i found these experiences tend to be more spiritually involved. I know see that affordance is a very important area to consider when cooking.

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