Chefs take great pride in the visual presentation of a meal. And, as attested to by all those Snapchats of delicately arranged entrées, it’s a big part of the experience for diners as well.
But, what if you couldn’t see your meal or even the plate it’s on? That’s the premise behind Dining in the Dark, a dinner party during which patrons get to experience what it’s like to share a meal when you’re blind.
Aaron Bley, director of community relations for the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI), says the fundraiser is inspired by similar dinners held across the country. During Dining in the Dark, around 300 guests will enjoy fine French cuisine, and there will be a silent auction and cash bar.
It resembles many other charity dinners in all ways but one: At the time the meal is served, things go a little differently.
“We are providing silk blindfolds on everyone’s chair,” Bley says. “We’ll ask everyone to put the blindfold on. The lights will be dimmed just enough so that the servers can still see what they’re doing. The dinner entrée will be served and everyone will be eating dinner. They’ll be doing that in complete darkness.”
Bley says he wants this not only to be a fun charity event but also an experiential and educational one, too.
“We want people to really walk away with a sense — albeit a limited sense — of what it is like to be severely visually impaired or blind,” he says. “It really isn’t so much about what they’re eating, but the experience of just eating in the dark and what people who really are blind really go through when they’re trying to manipulate and maneuver at a dinner party or a restaurant.”
Stefanie Richardson, who works in communications at CABVI, attended a similar event in Indianapolis last year. She is sighted and says she thought she would have an easier time eating, given that she has shared meals with friends at work who are blind.
“When my plate was put in front of me, I tried to memorize really quickly what was on it before my blindfold was on,” Richardson says. “But that didn’t work. I ended up eating the green top of the carrot. I took someone else’s drink and drank that on accident. I ate the whole little stick of butter that they give you instead of eating my roll. It was an eye-opening experience.”
If Richardson’s experience was a clumsy one, it was also common among the other diners at the event.
“We were disoriented,” she says. “A lot of people didn’t know what they were eating. For me personally, I cut my chicken but cut it in half. It was clearly not a bite size and it looked like I was shoving a whole piece of chicken in my mouth.
“Most of the women were dressed pretty fancy in evening gowns and they were worried about spilling the sauce so they had their napkins draped all over them, which isn’t normal.
“Each table had a person who was actually blind who was like a table captain. We could go over our experience with them and they could give us advice or laugh at our expense or say, ‘Yeah, I know what you’re going through because that’s what I do every day.’ ”
Jennifer Holladay, who manages volunteers at CABVI, has been blind her whole life. She explains that being blind is rarely all or nothing — most people are blind by degrees.
“Very few people see nothing,” she says. “Most people see light and shadows, and that’s what I can see. I can tell when the lights are on. I can see some shapes and shadows of different things. I’ve never been able to see color or read print but I can tell a lot of contrast. Something light colored against a dark background, I can usually see it.”
Holladay says whatever the amount of loss, it affects all aspects of life, including eating meals. Helping people understand this is the point of Dining in the Dark.
“Someone is going to put the blindfold on and think, ‘Wow, I really had a lot of trouble with this,’ ” Holladay says.
“But for someone like me, who has been blind her entire life and has been eating and doing all my daily life things blind, it’s not a new thing. For someone in their 60s and losing their vision, it can be more difficult. ‘What is this here?’ and, ‘If I touch this with my fork, what is it?’ They’re just developing those extrasensory skills. ”
Everyone’s experience with blindness is unique and, Holladay says, she expects people attending the dinner will have unique experiences as well.
She hopes participants walk away from the event with an understanding that people who are blind are just regular people and eating or living while blind is different, but it’s not that different.
“So many people think if they lose their vision, their life is over,” she says. “But it’s not. We can teach people the skills to be as independent as they would like to be. Sometimes people say that someone who can’t see must hear better.
“Well, it’s not that they can hear better, it’s just that there is a certain awareness that has been developed because they are not able to see. It depends on the day and how I’m doing as to how well I can memorize where things are.
“I’ve put the fork to my mouth and there hasn’t been anything on it and I hope nobody saw me do that. Most of the time I’m not going to ask someone where things are on the plate. I’m just going to figure it out.”
Dining In the Dark takes place at 6-9 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Manor House, 7440 Mason Montgomery Road, Mason. Learn more and register for tickets at cincyblind.org/events.