Affordance - Part One

Affordances are defined as “anything which the environment can offer the individual which is pertinent to the role challenge and can facilitate role competence (Christiansen & Baum 1997).” This is shown in the personal growth a person goes through when engaging in any activity. For me, the personal effects of cooking in my life have been discussed below.

Communication

In year one, we studied about food and culture, a quote that stood out for me was by Nigella Lawson (2004, cited in Sunderland, 2010) in which she states, “cooking has many functions, and only one of them is about feeding people. When we go into a kitchen, indeed when we even just think about going into a kitchen, we are both creating and responding to an idea we hold about ourselves, about what kind of person we are or wish to be. How we eat and what we eat lies at the heart of who we are as – individuals, families, communities.” This is particularly poignant because I feel cooking is essential for my wellbeing, not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. When I am in the kitchen, I feel more competent than in any other environment I could be in. Cooking can be done for individual gain but I feel it is more fulfilling if done for communal or familial gain. It gives me endless opportunities to express myself fully; it is unlimited because there is always room for improvement – learning new ways of cooking using new recipes. Communication between the environment (safety, hygiene), people (favourited dishes) and occupation (sense of accomplishment) is very important when I am cooking.

Action Properties

Is defined as “the indication of what to do next afforded by the activity (Butler, 2011).” Change is always inherent in cooking, not only to the person but also environment and as an occupation. Cooking reflects the stage a person is at – interests, habits etc. The type of cooking I enjoy changed as I grew older, motivation is influence intrinsically, and at present what motivates me is by the kind of person I want to be; healthy, competent and content.

Reference:

Butler, M. (2011). Participation in Occupation II. Unpublished, cited with the permission of the author. Otago Polytechnic School of Occupational Therapy, Dunedin.

Christiansen, C. & Baum, C. (eds)(1997). Occupational Therapy enabling function and wellbeing. 2^nd ed. Slack: New Jersey.

Sunderland, J (2010). Adaptive living and occupation: food and culture. Unpublished, cited with the permission of the author. Otago Polytechnic School of Occupational Therapy, Dunedin.