The trouble with English is that it doesn't have enough words to describe tastes and sounds - or does it? That was the issue raised in a recent class. It certainly seems difficult to record tastes and smells without actually naming the 'thing' being described. Referring to texture and the eating precess helps.
But we did find another powerful link. It seems that taste and smell evoke memories. (I can't walk through woodsmoke without being transported back to my days as a Guide leader.) So maybe we should record these associations to lead readers to similar sensory sensations.
What do you think?
4 comments:
Sometimes I take 'smells' along to classes (eg cotton wool soaked in vinegar) and get students to close their eyes while I waft it in front of them. Over the years I've found that 'smell prompts' are even more powerful than visual ones for many people and, as you say, trigger strong memories.
I wonder why it is that, although smell seems to be the sense we pay least attention to, it's the one that most triggers memories.
I wonder if smell is closer to the conscience?
That's a really interesting thought. Do you think taste triggers equally powerful memories?
Given that eating is a basic function one might expect so , although I can't say it works for me. But maybe that's because I eat similar types of food most of the time.
I recall a visit to Scotland a few years ago and the taste of chips took me straight back to my grandma's kitchen 30 years previously. It was the lard they were cooked in - a taste I hadn't experienced for ages - something lost and forgotten so unexpectedly revived.
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