Does Your Food Taste Different When You Can’t See It?

When I was in Amsterdam last November, I had the opportunity to have lunch at Ctaste, a Dine in the Dark Experience.  What is this you ask?  This is an opportunity to eat in complete darkness.  Why would you do this?  Apparently this trend, started in 1999, was designed to enhance your other senses and increase gastronomic pleasure.  So, my friend Lisa and I decided to give it a try.

After being welcomed and given a cocktail, we went through what to expect, and locked our purses, coats and all light up devices (watched and exercise monitors included) into individual lockers.  We were then paired up in groups of 4 and then the fun began.  We were told to hold onto each other shoulders (like a conga line) and we were led into complete darkness by our waitress.

And I mean complete darkness!  No Exit Sign, no sliver of light under a door, nada!  It was unnerving and within 5 minutes I had a splitting headache.  I figured out that my eyes kept searching overtime for light and I felt better after I decided to spend the rest of my meal with my eyes shut.

Now for the dining experience.  It was challenging eating soup, salad and the rest of the lunch without seeing it.  First, you had no idea what you were putting into your mouth.  Second, I was glad I wore black, because I was sure, I was going to be wearing a lot of it.  I did enjoy trying to figure out what I was eating (they do tell you at the end, and I was about 50% right). 

But the coolest thing about the whole experience was the conversation.  There was nothing to pull my attention away from who I was dining with.  There was no one looking at their phones.  It forced you to actually connect.  During the hour lunch, my friend and I met two interesting women from Utrecht and learn about their careers, their culture and really engaged with them.  This level of conversation would never have happened if we had met them at a regular dining experience!

So did it enhance my senses and increase my gastronomic pleasure?  Not really.  It was not haute cuisine.  However, it gave me something more, a non-interrupted hour to be in the moment and make some new connections!

Would I recommend it?  Definitely!  It’s a don’t miss experience!