James Chambley, a graduate student in English working on his doctorate, has created more than 100 cooking recipes.
"I definitely enjoy cooking and creating recipes," he said.
"I'm working through different aspects of cooking as opposed to having a particular type of cooking. Right now, I'm working on pastries."
Chambley said he also does private catering occasionally, which explains a great deal about why he plays with recipes. He has catered for up to 50 people.
"I'm interested in writing books and eventually compiling a cookbook," he said.
He also enjoys reading books about cooking and is working his way through an encyclopedia for cooking.
Although cooking is a major centerpiece of his life, he also typically reads shorts stories, compilations and materials about techno-theory, which relates to his dissertation topic. He said he is interested in the critical analysis of technology.
His dissertation topic is theories of writing, technologies of writing and cognitive approaches to the way people look at writing, he said.
"A lot of the younger generation has grown up with lots of technologies at hand," he said. "And some of them without critically thinking about the fact that the tools that they are using have not always been there and we used to do things a different way."
He said when people are talking in a chat room or composing an e-mail, they are talking in a different way than they would normally talk when they are face-to-face.
"In the 17th century, pedagogical theories of how writing should be taught were documented very well for the first time," he said. "What we are running into now is the fact that the text books have not changed that much in their pedagogical theories."
He said the problem with the pedagogical theory is that most people who have produced textbooks in the past have assumed that the way a person writes affects the way that person thinks.
"And it's impossible to write the way you think, and the tools - the technology that you use - to write has a direct impact on how you can write," he said. "It breaks down to a standard argument between linear and associative thinking."
2008 Woodie Awards
