DINING IN THE DARK - So imagine you’re going to have dinner at an restaurant. There’s going to be 5 courses, an appetizer course, a salad, a first course and so on. There’ll be wine served too. Now imagine having to eat all this while being blind-folded. Such a dinner is planned, it’s called “DINING IN THE DARK”, a special fundraiser dinner to benefit the Louisiana Association for the Blind in Shreveport, it’ll take place February 24th at Superior Steakhouse Ashley Hebert is Banquet and Events Coordinator…and explains the challenges in putting this together. "Whenever you're trying to develop a menu like this, you can't focus on visual with anything. You
focus everything on your taste and in all of that and it's hard to make sure you're including a 'crunch element' with everything. Something that spikes your senses when you're eating everything. Not only does it have to taste good, it has to invoke your senses with everything. That is difficult. " Adding various flavor elements in different combinations and varieties is key to the sensory experience. "You're not going to be able to see your food, so we're relying on the rest of our senses to tell us what we're eating," says Ashley " we're trying to highlight different types of textures, from crunchy, to spicy, to sweet, to salty, to briney, and citrus and so on ; so you rely on your other senses to tell you what you're eating." Having a five-course meal in a nice restaurant but not being able to see your plate is going to present quite an experience for participants. Audra Muslow Hicks, director of programming and community outreach for the Louisiana Association for the Blind explains there will be some help. "Before we launch the actual dining experience, I will stand up and give them a tutorial

about eating while blindfolded. We always say 'picture your plate like the face of a clock'. I like to say that this is an experience versus just another event because we are taking the guests into a pretty uncomfortable spot for a few hours. But this is the visually-impaired community we serve . . . and for most of them, this is their life 24/7." "Dining in the Dark takes place February 24th at Superior Steakhouse in Shreveport and begins at 6pm with a champagne reception. Tickets are available at the Louisiana Association for the Blind..the website is LaBlind.com Proceeds benefit the Louisiana Association for the Blind, an event billed that you will have to NOT SEE to believe.

Louisiana Association for the Blind - Shreveport 318-635-6471
Toll Free: 1-877-913-6471