Affordances continued

Affordance continued

Aesthetics

My take on aesthetics is the potential that an activity possesses to express beauty. This can be a very personal and subjective experience. For me the beauty cooking affords is the togetherness it brings. One of the things I miss most from home is the Sunday roast that my family shares every week. The whole family gathers at my nanas house where a roast cooked to perfection is guaranteed, along with hours of fun, conversation and laughter (usually at my expense). This is the best example, personally, of the beauty that cooking affords. The beauty that I can see from this activity is very much subjective, being built by the experiences I personally have had. Along with this the presentation of fresh veggies of all colours is satisfying to me and is something I think I have taken on and is reflected in my own cooking. No matter what the dish is I always find myself putting a little extra effort to make sure the presentation of the dish is up to standard with the appropriate colours in the right spot.

Spirituality

As I have mentioned in earlier posts cooking has a real sense of spirituality to me and it is mainly to do with my family life. Sheldrake (2007) describes spirituality in relation to ones inner path which leads do the discovery of the essence of his/her being and states that it is shaped by the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” (p. 1-2). For me this is so true as I believe the majority of what makes me who I am has been shaped by the experiences I have had which cooking has afforded over the years. Every celebration, in fact, every gathering we have always involves food, for example whenever I go home for holidays I always get to pick the first meal we have which is usually with the whole family. A couple of days before I return I text my mum with my requests for the meal ranging from the starters right through to the dessert. Although I enjoy this process immensely, it is what follows and is afforded by this which has given me my fondest memories of my home life. My stay is of course followed by meals and drinks out with my mother, aunty, nana and usually a few of their friends where we have a good old catch up filled with all the latest dramas in theirs and everyone else’s lives. This is something I really look forward to doing when I go home and has become an unspoken tradition which I hope will continue.

Ambience

Closely linking to spirituality the ambience of an activity is concerned with a particular feeling which is associated with that activity. The ambience of an activity is very subjective and may never have the same association to another person. For my activity of cooking the ambience is a sense of being a woman and being in touch with my roots. As I have mentioned in other posts there is almost a sense of nostalgia, making me think of my family in the past and all of the times we have shared which have been afforded by this activity. At times I can be a little old fashioned and I feel this is a big part of why I get a real sense of being a woman through cooking as I believe it is a great asset to be able to prepare a meal and bring together groups of people. Not only does the actual activity bring about these feelings but also the activities which are afforded by cooking. The whole process of having a meal, for me, brings about togetherness essentially. This is really special as it reminds me of awesome times I’ve had with pretty much every person I'm close to as having a meal is such a common thing to do, if not for a celebration, then just for a catch up with those I haven’t seen in a while. This sense of togetherness is not limited to just those you know well. An example of this was on placement we ran a cooking group. Groups of four people would be given a budget and they had to work together on what they would cook, how they would do it on a budget, and who would be in charge of each role. This was an example of how complete strangers were afforded through this activity to work as a team and build relationships and talk about things that perhaps they may not have had they not have participated in the activity.

History

I believe I mentioned in my first post how one of the reasons I was so keen to get in to cooking was because of the history in my family. My Mother, Aunty and Nana are all fantastic cooks and even owned a catering business. My mother and aunty were taught how to cook by my nana and my nana taught by her mother, and so on (you know how it goes). I would love to be the one who cooks for them as I know it would be really special as they hold the same views and values as me around cooking and all it affords which I guess makes sense considering I have been exposed to it my whole life. When I cook a meal for others I almost get a sense of nostalgia as I am very aware of my values and the history of cooking in my family. I love to provide for those I care about and cooking gives me a real sense of being a woman. I hope to continue the long line of good cooks and bring the skills I am learning not only to by personal but also professional life in the future.

Reference

Sheldrake, P. (2007). A Brief History of Spirituality.  New Jersey: Wiley – Blackwell.