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Danielle Ali Dayes

Dr. Steffen Guenzel

ENC 1101

30 October 2019

Paper 2 Final Draft

My Cooking Prodigy

Cooking was always my favorite hobby since childhood. Coming from a family of well-

developed cooks I knew that I would eventually be inspired to become a chef. But of course, I

couldn’t develop on my own. My family played a gigantic role in shaping my culinary skills.

They provided me with personal cookbooks and even played fun games with me to enhance my

knowledge on different ingredients. This was the first discourse that provided me with minor

knowledge on the language of cooking I still utilize today. These activities though, were only the

starting point of my journey to strengthening my skills. My first breakthrough began at the age

twelve after I received my first iPhone five. I was now able to look up recipes via social media

and cook on my own to impress my family with new recipes I thought were delicious. Overtime

as my meals started to impress my family it became my duty to cook dinner every night. When

my mother realized that I was serious about cooking she enrolled me in cooking classes where I

was taught simple skills. These skills were further used in culinary arts where I received hand on

experience with cooking and facial feedback. To further understand the process of my

developing cooking skills I examined my experiences within my discourse community using

James Paul Gee Discourse vs. discourse approach.

Methodology
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Researchers in literacy studies and rhetoric have defined "discourse community" in various

ways.James Paul Gee defines discourse as, “a sort of identity kit which comes complete with the

appropriate costume and instructions on how to act, talk, and often write to take a particular role

that others recognize” (Gee 7). When establishing that I wanted to be apart the culinary discourse

community I was trained on how to think, speak and act like a chef. My first sponsors, my

family, taught me primary “home base sense of identity” known as Primary Discourse (Gee 7).

When I first started cooking for my family my mother educated me on the purpose of each

material utilized in the cooking community. She made sure that I knew the differentiation

between using a pot to boil or cook pasta and a pan used to fry eggs. On the other hand, my

grandmother who also passed down her secret recipe books, gave me simple dishes to prepare, so

I was able to understand the basic discourse of cooking. This is where I established words like

“whip”, “beat”, “preheat” from my household that I now use frequently within my cooking

community. Others within my community use these words to communicate as well. These words

or phrases helped shape the foundation of a larger Discourse. And helped connect with others in

my cooking community.

After my initial socialization I began to interact with other non-home-based social

institutions where I had the opportunity to play the role of my Discourse through an

apprenticeship. “Each of these social institutions commands and demands one or more

Discourses and we acquire these fluently to the extent that we are given access to these

institutions and are allowed apprenticeships within them. Such Discourses I call Secondary

Discourses” (Gee 8). After my mother taught me the basic skills needed to become a chef, she

thought it was best that I participated in a cooking class. This is where my secondary discourse

learning came into action. Alongside other peers within my discourse community we paid every
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two weeks to imitate the duties of a chef. It was our job to aid our peers and thoroughly read

instructions to properly prepare a meal. We were not only taught how to properly prepare food

while enrolled in the cooking class. We also were taught how to conduct food presentation,

practice safety procedures, and secret food recipes that were used constantly throughout the

class. As students in the class we were always graded on the quality of our work with minor

critiques by our head chef. She wanted to make sure we got the full experience of an actual chef

participating in a competition.

To get additional practice in the field of culinary I registered in culinary arts at my local

high school where I was able to distribute my skills to the community. Learning this discourse

within my high school was similar to learning a new language. “In fact, some of what we know

about second language acquisition is relevant to them” (Gee 9). I had to understand the purpose

of each ingredient and use it correctly in a meal. It was my grade to learn the material and act as

a chef in order to prepare great quality food for my teacher. Though the course was not easy, the

secondary discourse allowed me to act and expand in my field of interest. This was extremely

different from the primary discourse I was taught at home. The big difference between home and

this class was that everything was more hands on as I got the opportunity to act like a real-life

chef. I learned more than language from others who were not my family and learned how to put

my skills to use. As I worked alongside others within my community I learned how to work in

teams. Currently I know the correct procedures that are required when preparing a full course

meal. Some procedures include washing your hands before taking out your ingredients, wiping

down counters after sanitizing chicken and never using the same utensils in different dishes you

are making. These are only just a few rules of cooking that prevent humans from contracting

minor diseases from unsanitary procedures. There are many others that can kill off the human
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species if not followed correctly. Socialization with other sponsors allowed me to develop the

skills needed to become a fantastic chef in my future discourses.

Results

With my new learned Discourse, I plan on using my skills to create little projects, so I am

able to earn status within my community. I want to earn profit from my amazing dishes and

possibly host cooking events around the area. Hopefully, I could invest in something greater that

can add endless income in my pocket. To be more specific I would really love to own a

restaurant. I want to be the head chef of my business and hire servers that dish out my meals to

customers who enjoy my cuisine. I hope to attract the general market with my new business, I

want my restaurant to be multicultural. Therefore, I want to make dishes from my culture, other

cultures as well as general popular American food. As my business grows, I want to hire

numerous chefs from different cultures to cook famous dishes from their country. This classifies

my discourse as non-dominant. According to Paul Gee, “Dominant Discourses are secondary

Discourses the mastery of which, at a particular time and place, brings with it the acquisition of

social goods” (Gee 8). In other words, because I plan on expanding from the community for my

personal benefit, my discourse is now being used to earn profit and status within my community.

Currently, at the University of Central Florida, I major in Business Management and minor

in Hospitality Management in hopes to earn a degree for both categories. Having these degrees

will make it easier to conquer my literacy after I graduate. According to James Paul Gee he

believes that, “any socially useful definition of literacy much be couched in terms of the notion

of discourse” and further defines literacy as “the mastery of or fluent control over a secondary

discourse” (Gee 9). With the support of my family I am positive that I would reach my goal and

master my literacy before my late 40’s. On the other hand, to keep my skills fresh while residing
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on campus for the next year, my roommate, the culinary president, and I plan to open up a small

cooking business. We want to aid students who cannot afford meal plans that were not taught

how to cook. Even though we want to aid our community this still makes our discourse non-

dominant. We plan on using this small business to earn money, prestige and receive feedback

from individuals around us. Furthermore, we want to make our price ranges low and affordable

to appeal hungry college students. It is obvious that college students have to pay the expensive

funds of tuition and housing while enrolled at University of Central Florida. It would make no

sense to charge higher prices than local food industries because students would rather choose

popular fast food meals than our small food business. We don’t want to limit our foods to one

specific group either. We want to make common meals so our target market would be any

college student or local roaming our campus. While using my primary and secondary skills to

expand in my discourse and create new ideas I hope I become economically stable in my

Discourse.