Ergonomics

Ergonomics is defined as "the science of work and a persons relationship to that work" (About.com, 2011). Today in class we looked at activities in relation to how they fit into a Person, Activity, and Environment grid. We had a class discussion and came up with the following ideas.
Person
-Age -> life timeline, temporal perspective
-Energy required to participate in the activity
-Aptitude, skills, sense of competence
-Sense of responsibility -> perception
-Preferences
-Time available to participate
-Deficits
-Financial capacities

Activity
-Adaptations of the activity that may need to be made
-Pacing / Rhythm
-Temporal / Time of day
-Robustness of materials
-Other kinds of equipment that may be required
-Costs invovled

Environment
-Equipment available
-Spatial organisation
-Cultural aspects -> how we do things
-How rich our environment is
-Seasons

With these ideas in mind, I then focussed in on my own activity of cooking. This helped me to analyse more deeply what cooking means to me as an activity, and all of the elements that go into it.
Person
-I have been helping Mum in the kitchen for as long as I can remember. We used to have 'Wednesday baking days' when we were younger which was always a treat (being allowed to lick the cream beaters was always a highlight). Christmas day was always fun as my sister and I would be helping Mum and Grandma prepare the desserts and vegetables for the big feast. I think I would have started cooking family dinners around the age of about 10 or 11, with assistance from either Mum and Dad or my older sister. Although I was probably shocking at this age, helping out always made me feel like a grown up, and it felt good to be able to help my family after a busy day.
-I do feel I have limited time for cooking / baking in the mean time with study and work keeping me busy, however I do enjoy taking some time out of study to whip up a treat when I have the energy and motivation.
-There is not much of a cost involved for me personally associated with cooking as I still live at home so groceries are provided from Mum and Dad. However, when I was flatting last year, I found cost a big issue as I could only afford the basics which resulted in boring, repetitive meals.

Activity
-I feel I require a base recipe when I'm cooking as I'm not quite creative enough to start from scratch. However, I do really enjoy taking a recipe and swapping up the ingredients to see how it changes the taste.
-Some meals require expensive or odd ingredients that I wouldn't find use for otherwise so I tend to steer clear of those. Although I may make some exeptions if the item looks particularly great.
-There is alot of equipment involved in cooking/baking and it can be rather frustrating when you don't have adequate dishes/pans/utensils etc. I found this very difficult when I was in the flat last year as we had a very limited kitchen which was very impractical. The equipment was also not very good quality which made things difficult as well. At home, things are much easier. We have a well set up kitchen so I am generally able to find everything I may need.

Environment
-As stated above, our kitchen is well set up so it is a nice tidy environment to be in when cooking, compared to the flat which was unorganized and messy.
-There is a large varitey in fruits and vegetables from season to season which can make cooking interesting. This can be really great if the ingredients you are wanting to use are in season, however rather frustrating if they are not. There are generally tinned varieties of things you can use as a replacement, however I feel that fresh is best.
-There is a cultural aspect with cooking in my family when it comes to special occasions, be it birthdays, anniversarys or any other special dates. We tend to have the good old family recipes that pop up at all of these times, that are garaunteed to be a hit and noone will ever get sick of. I believe these will be the types of things I am still making for my family years down the track.

This activity has had me think about differents aspects of cooking and has made me realise how important food can be other than just for survival. It has brought back great memories from my childhood and made me think about how the past has shaped how I cook, and why i love cooking now.

References:
About.com (2011). Ergonomics. Retrieved September 13, 2011, from http://www.about.com/ergonomics