«Buen provecho»: television in the workshop-classroom to a cookery and pastry workshop

Abstract

The big interest which raises the gastronomic culture is well-known everywhere. Now more than never people write, publish and read about this subject but what is really surprising is the amazing rating audience reached by the TV programmes which deal with popularizing recipes for traditional, regional, market, season or author cooking. Some of them have stayed on the air for quite a long time and have contributed to the appearance of the «star cook» who is appreciated not only by his/her solid professional career or by his/her refined culinary technique, but also and especially by his/her impact as a communicator. Every TV channel has a programme about the subject so as to engage and keep a wide and diverse section of audience. You can see how students have become interested in these subjects –not only those who are studying a Cookery Vocational Training Course- due to the influence of television. They ask their teacher about a certain programme, the teacher´s opinion about the cook´s work, they even suggest preparing a certain dish which has drawn their attention or want to know if the technique the cook has used is the most suitable. The teacher has so the opportunity of applying a new methodology with a flexible approach by making use of these topics as didactic strategies to foster and develop the students´ learning motivation. The problem arises when we consider the value these kind of TV programmes have as a learning tool. Are they useful for the educational purposes according to a professional profile? Do they refer to the professional performance and are they suitable for the units of competence which are part of the professional abilities? Do they fit in the general abilities which are common to the educative vocational level? What about the general goals and purposes of the Cookery Vocational Training Course and the final abilities of every subject? It is obvious they don´t. Regarding the suitability of the gastronomic-culinary contents of these TV programmes we come to the conclusion that it is not quite satisfactory: the contents which refer to concepts may be suitable (especially those which have to do with facts, but not always those notions or empiric rules) Finally, it is worth taking into a special consideration the attitude knowledge. As whole, the kind of attitude which is spread by TV cooking programmes would be appropriate as contents in the teaching-learning process: importance of healthy and balanced food, suitability of natural and season products, etc. So the problem we approach in this paper deals with the way teachers and students could take advantage of TV programmes though the teaching-learning process by making up for the lack of some suitable contents which may be related to the Cookery Vocational Training Course curriculum..