Palatable plantains

Last month I was driving home from visiting friends in Austin, and I passed a new-to-me restaurant on the side of the road: Palatable Nigerian Cuisine. “What a name!” I exclaimed to my husband, craning my neck to see the storefront. “I hope they know what palatable means.”

Growing up, I remember learning “palatable” through mostly negatively applications. Palatable food was acceptable, barely edible, but not good. While the dictionaries report that it can be positive(ish) and mean “good enough,” it’s a shadow to the convincing synonyms of tasty and delicious.

The problem is that I have dear Nigerian friends who have had me over to dinner countless times, and I know from the spices in the air and the food on my plate that anything that comes from their kitchen is a lot better than palatable.

Early into our friendship they invited me over for dinner. “Do you like spice?” my friend asked. A Colorado girl raised on green chili, I said “of course!” Dinner took me an hour to finish, as I snuck sips of milk between blazing bites of a homemade shawarma. They doused their dinner with even more hot sauce, and I sat there teary-eyed from the spiciness. We all laughed, but I’d learned my lesson. The next time I came over for dinner we ate savory jollof rice (less spicy) and sweet plantains, caramelized to perfection.

Their food is vibrant, spicy, flavorful, nuanced, and delicious. 

The point of this story is not to bemoan the number of Texan drivers who may never try Nigerian food because of a confusingly named restaurant—though their Instagram boasts of “great food and good vibes” and Uber Eats gives them 4.5.

The point is the importance of precision.

Successful communication does not hinge on using big words or complex grammar, though in technical environments those elements may be important. Successful communication is based on clarity and precision.

Much of miscommunication stems from a problem of vagueness. Precision is a step towards solving that. When we err on overcommunicating (or being very, very precise in what we speak and write), we reduce the amount of miscommunication or misunderstandings that come from vague promises like “I’ll pay you back” or “I’ll finish up that email soon.”

Precision is the gift that keeps on giving, creating proper expectations which in turn protect relationships. “I’ll pay you back by this evening. Text me if I forget!”

Precisely yours,

Emily M

P.S. You should totally try the plantain recipe. Easy. Delicious. Interesting. (Send me any more adjectives you come up with after cooking it too!)

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash