Dining in the Dark

Last night I got the opportunity of attending Dining in the Dark put on by Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living. My company, TDI-Brooks International, bought 8 seats to the dinner so I asked my sister, Katelyn, if she wanted to join my coworkers and I as we experienced this cool event. History of this event, courtesy of a manual produced by the Florida Institute of Rehabilitation Education for People Who are Visually Impaired or Blind provides the following, "Dining in the Dark was pioneered in Zurich by a Swiss socialite and trendsetter who happened to be blind. He threw cocktail parties for his sighted friends in the dark to add flair and zest to the occasion. He created a whole new set of sensations and experiences based on the combination of total darkness, social interaction, dining and drinking. By 1999 the growing popularity of the concept expanded into becoming a fine dining restaurant and social club. Since then, the concept has spread to Germany, Paris and London." The event started with a silent auction of different gift packages to places around town. Katelyn and I bid on a couple packages, but we eventually got out bid. After socializing for a little bit we got in line for dinner. It was held at one of the MSC ballrooms. The waiters were all visually impaired and lead us to our table in complete darkness by a congo line. 

We got to our table and found our seat and tried to sit down without falling. Our waiter, Laura Ann, explained that we had to explore our table settings and that the menu was a secret, unless you could read braille since the menu was written in braille on a piece of paper in the center of the table. We had to use our senses (other than sight) to figure out what we were eating. We all dug in to the first course and found out it was a salad. It was extremely hard to eat without seeing. We didn't know what would come next, unless of course your neighbor exclaimed, "Yum, I just got a strawberry!" I'm glad no one was watching or could see because half of the spinach would being hanging out of my mouth most of the time. We had to feel around on our plates with our fingers to make sure we had eaten it all. The next course was the main dish. It seemed like each person at the table started on a different food item because everyone was saying they tasted something different. It ended up being green beans, mashed potatoes, tomatoes stuffed with creme cheese, a star fruit and beef tips in a wine sauce. It was delicious. We then had dessert. I came in a wine type glass and had a spoon with it. We discovered that it was a mousse with a chocolate crust. It was rich, but so good. While eating dessert the waiters had a Q&A session up front. We were able to write questions and they would answer them. It was neat to see how they got around town, used technology and went through everyday life with this disability. After everyone at the dinner received their dessert, they turned on the lights. It hurt everyone's eyes pretty bad and everyone was squinting for the first couple of minutes. We got to get up and use the restroom and make the final bids on our auction items. When I went to the restroom I discovered that I had spilled who knows what all down my shirt. I am usually not a messy eater, but I guess if you can't see what you are eating you don't really know if you spill or not. We went back in the ballroom for Epicures, the catering place, to reveal the menu. (We already discovered what it was). Then we were able to tip our waiters and head out. It was a really cool experience and made us aware how hard it is for the blind to do something as simple as eating dinner. I think it made everyone there very grateful for their sight and reminded them not to take it for granted. If you ever have a chance to do this, DO IT!