Eating Dinner Blindfolded Will Seriously Mess With Your Head
They say removing one sense heightens the others. Instead, it shows me just how entirely, utterly dependent I am on one. For the past hour, I've been eating dinner completely blindfolded. In a restaurant, alongside about 20 or so of my closest strangers. They're all blindfolded too.
We all paid to do this, and no, we're not drinking special Kool-Aid. But we have had four kinds of wine.
Two nights a week, Camaje in New York City offers a pre-fixe meal unlike any other. It's called Dinners In The Dark, where guests don a cushioned blindfold - outside, so you don't even see the inside of the restaurant until the meal's over - and walk in one by one, conga line-style, to try that night's menu. For the next two and a half hours, you eat using your senses of touch, taste, scent, and sound. (You can take the blindfold off, if you're ever feeling uncomfortable, but most people leave them on until the very end.)
"We're aware that people come to us in a potentially vulnerable space. We want it to be enjoyable, so not anything too weird," said Camaje owner and chef Abby Hitchcock. In addition to letting people take the blindfold off, servers are very attentive to each guest, helping you find your seat, ensuring your glass is never less than half-full, and guiding you to the bathroom, should you need to go. I felt confident I'd break at least two wine glasses before the night was over, but surprisingly, nobody spilled or toppled a thing - my (often clumsy) self included.
Hitchcock launched Dinners In The Dark after a friend told her about how eating an orange with her eyes closed really made her appreciate its citrusy scent and sweet-tart flavor. It made her want to look at every meal in a new light - and introduce that feeling to others.
Before each dinner, Hitchcock rides a pink bicycle down to the farmer's market, choosing ingredients based on what's in season - and what's most likely to make people second-guess themselves.
"I would say most people are floored by how little they guess correctly," she said.
At first, I felt confident. Maybe a little too confident. I crunched into a piece of toasted bread, noting the garlic and olive oil on it. Then, the sparkling wine. I was two for two!
It all went downhill from there.
As much as I tried to focus on my senses, trusting my tastebuds, cream sauces and glazes often threw me for a loop - but textures really caught me off-guard. Shrimp that had been cut into coins had the snap of sausage casing, causing me to blurt out "sausage!" And stick with that answer, several bites later.
One that I truly have no excuse for was confusing pork with chicken. Looking at the dish after the blindfold came off, I was stunned. How could I mix the two for a second?! Surprisingly, though, it was that entree that caused the most confusion. A collective "ahh" echoed throughout the room the second it was revealed.
It underscored what we knew all along: Until that moment, we were all in the dark together.
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