Precision is one approach to communication. Choosing just the right words to convey an exact meaning. When I write that Au Lac Vegetarian Restaurant is a Vietnamese/Chinese cuisine dining establishment located in Fountain Valley, CA approximately 38 miles south of Los Angeles, the reader understands me completely. As well, when I write: Upon entering the vegetarian restaurant, my smiling Asian hostess stated rather than asked, "two for raw", and led me to a seat in a windowless dining area of 25 tables, leaving me to wonder if it was my glowing complexion, my healthy physique, or my dread locks and hippie dress that revealed my uncooked identity - the same phenomena happens: the reader interprets the information exactly as intended. I ordered the spring roll and sea weed soup for appetizers, costing $3.95 and $5.95 respectively, and between two of us, still took home leftovers, due to overly generous portions. There it happens again: concise communication. Language of precision, ideal for couple's therapy, Ikea assembly manuals, and driving directions in Washington DC, effectively prevents confusion...

And imagination.

Metaphor is another approach to communication. Choosing more general, encompassing words to appeal to the reader's sensory, rather than rational, intelligence: Even my pulse paused to take in the new experience - never before had I tasted authentically Asian raw cuisine. Curried Rice, a tabu question mark tempting the curious deviant tongue. Was it sea grass seeds and sun dried olives? Was it dehydrated onions, cauliflower and sinfully soft avocado? No American raw gourmet has dared daydream Au Lac's combinations - an entire meal without even one nut. I felt like the explorer of forbidden new worlds, stumbling upon treasure so tender, so fragile, so unexploited that I must consider whether it is safe to tell the world. I must consider whether the world is safe in knowing. If the writer is comfortable surrendering to the possibility of misinterpretation, the language of metaphor can actually convey more by providing less information.

Either way, the advanced level of communication we utilize as human beings is actually what defines us as human beings. It all began with the independently mobile vertebras about 3 - 4 billion years ago and the development of what we call the "reptile brain" - a tiny little chicken mcnugget in the skull cavity who's main function is to decipher if the organism is safe or in danger (an advance/retreat mechanism that is a must for the survival of any species). About 500 - 1000 million years ago, the "mammalian brain" showed up at the cranium party, providing it's host territorial awareness, relationship development and emotional capacity (see: mammalian mating habits and child rearing methods). And finally, around only 100,000 years ago, the cortex swelled like saturated sponges into brain history. These underused and even less understood lobes are found uniquely in the human head, and function to sort, categorize, shuffle and reorganize information - to create symbol. Semantics, and not the opposable thumb, may actually be what "separate us from the apes". Perhaps the Missing Link wasn't out hunting or gathering at all, but at home becoming a better mother by developing elaborate symbolic systems to interpret her baby's cries.

So in an attempt to continue my advancement of our blessed race:

After my last, swooning bite of Durian Pie (in which there is only one secret ingredient I have sworn to not reveal) a quiet, young Asian man stepped up to my table. He seemed intensely interested in interacting with me, yet stood there not saying a word. And it was in an uncomfortable moment of pregnant silence that I realized two things: 1) this man is none other than the chef of this sensational meal, visiting personally each table who orders one of his creations, and 2) this man is mute?

Chef Ito of Au Lac Vegetarian Restaurant conveyed more through the metaphor of food than the author has in an entire essay. He brought the language of precision to a new level with three simple letters scribbled across his tshirt in magic marker: R-A-W. And exposed "opportunities" in communication (and human evolution) with one smile, beaming joy brighter than summer noon.

There's interpreting your baby's cries and then there is predicting your baby's cries. Without words, we understad each other completely.

2 comments Links to this post