Affordances are considered to be what the activity lends
itself to, leads to or allows. Food in the way it meets our most basic
biological need can be considered to afford everything as it is what affords us
life. Visser stated “as soon as we can count on a food supply... and not a
moment sooner we begin to civilize ourselves” (Visser, 1989, p 12). I have a
secure food supply, it is the supermarket and I am guilty of taking it for
granted. But food is “never just something to eat” (Visser, 1986, p. 12) it is
something that defines a society or culture in what they choses to eat, its
presentation, the time and place allocated to it and the rituals surrounding it
(Visser). And so it is for me on an individual level. It affords me
an opportunity express myself. Every time I choose to make something from
scratch rather than a prepackaged meal I am doing so. Every time I choose
market brought seasonal vegetables rather than something exotic I am doing so
and defining myself at the same time.
The other night I was came home and I was
very hungry. My flat mate was home and it looked as if she was starting to
bake. As this takes a little longer than the fast meal I had in mind I asked
her if she minded if I did some cooking as well in our smallish kitchen.
I looked into the cupboard knowing that I had the cupboard was fairly
empty but had several key ingredients. These ingredients cued me, linking into
me previous knowledge to be able to put them together as something Thai- ish
and I was able to improvise the rest. The empty cupboard afforded me an opportunity
to be creative and resourceful in my cooking. This sense of resourcefulness
provides me with a sense of self satisfaction and of frugality at making do. As
I began cooking there was much need to communicate with my flat mate as I soon
realized she was also cooking as well. Was she using that frying pan? Would I
be in her way if I use the front element? Can I use this space? Even moving
across the kitchen required maneuvering around each other there had to be a lot
of negotiation around space and equipment. My flat mate is relatively new and
we haven’t had much time to get to know each other. We communicated out of necessity
but also being in this environment doing the same activity of cooking simultaneously
afforded us the opportunity to get to know each other better. We talked about
what we are currently doing, our backgrounds and where we came from. There
was a need to be thoughtful, courteous, polite and friendly to each other and
there was an idea of welcoming or some kind of initiation into the flat.
Visser,
M. (1986). Much depends on dinner. New York: Grove Press.
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