Cooking Skills - what are they?
By F. Short
Glossary Terms
Qualitative - is a generic term for investigative methodologies described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research (1997. James P. Key.)
Copyright 1997. James P. Key. Oklahoma State Universityhttp://www.okstate.edu/ag/agedcm4h/academic/aged5980a/5980/newpage21.htm
Tacit knowledge - the knowledge that people have that can not be readily or easily written down, usually because it is based in skills (1). It is silent knowledge that emerges only when a person is doing something that requires such knowledge or when they are reminded of it (2). Whatever governs this knowledge is not conscious. This covers a surprising amount of knowledge that most people have, such as attention, recognition, retrieval of information, perception, and motor control. These are known skills, but they are not easily explained (3). This is not a knowledge that can be explained through a system or an outline in a book (Diana LaFemina, 2002) http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web2/dlafemina.html
Horizontally developed data– exploration of a number of issues (Short, 2003, pg. 16)
Vertically developed data – a focused examination of emergent issues central to the development of the discourse (Short, 2003, pg. 16)
Quotes
“a decline in cooking skills can be connected with a commensurate decline in life-enhancement, family relationships and social processes (Longfield, 1996; Mintz, 1996; Shore, 2002)” Short, 2003, pg. 14
This is an interesting point to me because I feel like many people do not sit down together as a family; however, I have no proof of this. I sit down with my family every day, we enjoy our time together around the dinner table and it promotes discussion and family connectedness. Without data to support this idea I have no proof that people do not sit down together in their homes.
“They did use mechanical, technical skills but they also used perceptual and conceptual abilities, creative and organizational skills and academic knowledge” (Short, 2003, pg. 17)
I feel like this describes all of the hidden skills that are used during cooking. While many think that cooking is purely having the mechanical skills it is not and students learning how to cook develop many other useful skills that can relate to other aspects of their life.
“It is possible to distinguish a set of domestic cooking skills, specific to domestic cooking” (Short, 2003, pg. 19)
I found this interesting because it has never occurred to me that there can be a very different skill set between a professional cook and a domestic cook. Some of the distracting behaviours and other jobs that need to be focused on at the same time, or whose taste buds need to be taken into consideration develop different skill sets.
Comments
This was a very interesting article to read because it gave me a very different outlook upon what is actually required of a domestic cook and all the skills that they develop over time and practice. A few of my concerns had to do with the very small sample group of cooks because this may not be a true cross-section of the population. Additionally, without any empirical data to back them up, even I find it hard to believe that this is a wide spread problem. And because it was a convenience sampling of people they could have all be of the same social class or structure all with similar access to food. Much of this information may change based on the location or country that the study was performed in.
References
• Short, F. (2003). Cooking skills - what are they? Journal of the HEIA, 10 (3),13-22
Qualitative - is a generic term for investigative methodologies described as ethnographic, naturalistic, anthropological, field, or participant observer research (1997. James P. Key.)
Copyright 1997. James P. Key. Oklahoma State Universityhttp://www.okstate.edu/ag/agedcm4h/academic/aged5980a/5980/newpage21.htm
Tacit knowledge - the knowledge that people have that can not be readily or easily written down, usually because it is based in skills (1). It is silent knowledge that emerges only when a person is doing something that requires such knowledge or when they are reminded of it (2). Whatever governs this knowledge is not conscious. This covers a surprising amount of knowledge that most people have, such as attention, recognition, retrieval of information, perception, and motor control. These are known skills, but they are not easily explained (3). This is not a knowledge that can be explained through a system or an outline in a book (Diana LaFemina, 2002) http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/biology/b103/f02/web2/dlafemina.html
Horizontally developed data– exploration of a number of issues (Short, 2003, pg. 16)
Vertically developed data – a focused examination of emergent issues central to the development of the discourse (Short, 2003, pg. 16)
Quotes
“a decline in cooking skills can be connected with a commensurate decline in life-enhancement, family relationships and social processes (Longfield, 1996; Mintz, 1996; Shore, 2002)” Short, 2003, pg. 14
This is an interesting point to me because I feel like many people do not sit down together as a family; however, I have no proof of this. I sit down with my family every day, we enjoy our time together around the dinner table and it promotes discussion and family connectedness. Without data to support this idea I have no proof that people do not sit down together in their homes.
“They did use mechanical, technical skills but they also used perceptual and conceptual abilities, creative and organizational skills and academic knowledge” (Short, 2003, pg. 17)
I feel like this describes all of the hidden skills that are used during cooking. While many think that cooking is purely having the mechanical skills it is not and students learning how to cook develop many other useful skills that can relate to other aspects of their life.
“It is possible to distinguish a set of domestic cooking skills, specific to domestic cooking” (Short, 2003, pg. 19)
I found this interesting because it has never occurred to me that there can be a very different skill set between a professional cook and a domestic cook. Some of the distracting behaviours and other jobs that need to be focused on at the same time, or whose taste buds need to be taken into consideration develop different skill sets.
Comments
This was a very interesting article to read because it gave me a very different outlook upon what is actually required of a domestic cook and all the skills that they develop over time and practice. A few of my concerns had to do with the very small sample group of cooks because this may not be a true cross-section of the population. Additionally, without any empirical data to back them up, even I find it hard to believe that this is a wide spread problem. And because it was a convenience sampling of people they could have all be of the same social class or structure all with similar access to food. Much of this information may change based on the location or country that the study was performed in.
References
• Short, F. (2003). Cooking skills - what are they? Journal of the HEIA, 10 (3),13-22