If there is such a thing as “blind date,” there is also something called “blind dining.”

The latter I didn’t know – until I was sent on an assignment to “Dinner in the Dark” at the Marriott Hotel Cebu on October 23. I was excited, of course, and confident that I would manage well. Excited, because this was for sure going to be a really a one-of-a-kind experience. And confident, because I thought the affair would not require anything unusual of me.

And so here I was, walking towards the Sampaguita Ballroom of the hotel. A few familiar faces greeted me. And, yes, the expectable warmth of the hotel staff, too. Marriott Marketing Communications Manager Frances Alfafara was there and so were the Eye Society team led by the VP of Sales and Operations Dr. Devi Leano, Mikko Arraneta, Timothy Duenas, Farrah Rodriguez, Dr. Anna Capoy, Dr. Edna Capoy and special guest facilitator Ejay Williams. Amid such a welcome, I was feeling very comfortable.

But the situation changed as soon as dinner was to start, as we were being blindfolded. We were to have dinner without seeing our food. It was to be a simulation of how dining feels to those without sight. To tell the truth, I was getting anxious.

As it turned out, I enjoyed the marvellous dinner just the same – perhaps even more. It proved true, in this case, what scientists say that removal or restriction of the sense of sight would heighten all other senses – hearing, smell, touch, and of course, taste. I couldn’t say if it fully worked that way with me, that as the sense of sight supposedly provides approximately 80 percent of all the information a person receives and process about the world, the other senses are often quick to compensate once sight is curtailed.

All I know is that it was a unique, lovely dining experience.  Facilitating were darkness experts to guide the blindfolded guests throughout the dinner. And the four-course meal specially prepared for the occasion by Marriott Hotel Cebu Executive Chef Chachpol Suaisom was wonderful.

“Dinner in the Dark” was co-organized by Eye Society, the Premier Eyewear Boutique, and Marriott Hotel Cebu. The event was also for the benefit or the Eye Bank Foundation of the Philippines, a non-stock, non-profit, non-government humanitarian organization that owns and operates a medical eye banking facility dedicated to the collection, processing, evaluation, storage and equitable distribution of eye tissues for transplant, research, and education. The Foundation is committed to transforming lives through restoring sight, including and most especially the indigent ones in need of the gift of sight.

Blind dining is such a transformative experience that not only gives a renewed appreciation but also a deeper understanding of the importance of the sense of sight. It certainly works that way with me.

Eye Society, the Premier Eyewear Boutique, is at G/F Robinsons Galleria Cebu, UG/F SM Seaside Cebu and UG/F Mall Expansion, SM Iloilo. More information is posted at eyesociety.com.ph, and @eyesocietyph on Facebook and Instagram. BLIND DINING Patricia Segulla