Does food taste better without the sense of sight?

Among one of the few Reality Shows I follow, MasterChef Australia is my favorite. In an endeavor to groom great chefs, the show lays stress on multiple factors which make eating food an experience including things like plating, the use of the right ingredients to decorate the dish etc. The entire concept of plating and presentation is not just limited to TV shows now. 80% of the reviews on the popular food blog website – Zomato, lay great emphasis on the ambience of the place (Moreover ambience is contributes significantly to the high food bills).

Even when I think of my favorite food, not only do I know how it should taste but exactly how it should look.

What is the correlation between well-presented food served in great ambience with the taste? 

Although there has been enough research to show how sense of smell and taste are intertwined and the interactions between smell and taste enhance the perception of food, there is no such proven research on the correlation of sense of sight and taste. Personally, I love going out to places with a certain theme, perfect décor, beautifully plated food and all that jazz!! Being a picky eater (I usually prefer vegetarian, to be more specific Indian food and maybe some Thai, Mediterranean and a few other dishes) I often don’t eat a lot at these ‘fancy’ places due to my limitations on the kind of ingredients I want in my food, my preference for a certain kind of vegetables, the perception that leafy vegetables can be rather sour and so on. I satiate my hunger by the ‘ambience’.

On a recent visit to Saigon a.k.a. HCMC, we (my husband and me) were looking for places to celebrate his birthday and hence, we picked a restaurant called ‘Noir’ (http://www.noirdininginthedark.com/) purely based on Trip Advisor ratings and some pictures reflecting upon the funky ‘ambience’ with guests playing games blindfolded. We did not know what we were in for, until we reached the place and the staff looked rather amazed to have guests without a reservation, who were not aware on what theme the restaurant based (Yeah, there is a theme).

This is when we got to know what we were in for is termed as the ‘Dining in the Dark’. (The concept started in Zurich,Switzerland (Blindekuh) in 1999). Insipte of being unsure about the concept, I decided to take a leap of faith and 'experience the experience' (A leap of faith for me as eating some surprise dishes in complete darkness in a country where I can’t even rely on what vegetarian food means, is not my idea of a special meal. But at times husbands get a chance to take decisions, especially when there is a birthday involved - to be precise his birthday).

Who can serve the best in darkness? Someone for whom the concept of light is nonexistent. Yes, food is served by the visually impaired.

Our server for the night was Miss Swan, a young lady with a pleasant smile. Frankly, I was skeptical about what was next (How could a visually impaired person serve us? Yes. I completely appreciate that each person is gifted with some unique talent and I have been to blind schools in the past, impressed by the music created there, but serving food is much more complex).

She led us into a pitch dark room (I have never been to a place so dark. You really can't see anything at all) and guided us towards our seats. I must admit, I was extremely scared initially. I cannot imagine functioning without all my five senses interacting with each other. Swan made her best attempt to make us comfortable. (She was quick to judge that I was feeling cold just by holding my hand.)

Although I could not see where I was, the extremely courteous staff defined ambiance for me, and I would rate it a 5/5. My server was able to give me accurate instructions on every minute detail – from where my napkin was to which order to have my meal in. Throughout the meal I was skeptical she would drop something but she managed to serve the entire meal without any noise of moving plates also. She even made it a very personal affair by giving flowers in the end and thanking us for enriching her knowledge on Hinduism.

So how did food taste? Was it better?

In the 3 course meal, I was served vegetables which I would not have tasted given a choice. (I won't go into the details of the dishes as the dishes are meant to be a surprise :) ). This is when I realized there is more to food then how it looks.

I can attribute the correlation between sight and taste to the fact that sense of sight is the strongest human sense. Hence, sight dominates our perception of food also. But eating without knowing what was served was a food ‘discovery experience’. The curiosity to discover all flavors of the dish made me eat each dish till the last bite. I was surprised at myself as I was trying on new recipes and enjoying them sans any. It was about activating all other senses to enjoy food.This enhanced sense of taste and smell helped me be less judgmental about what I see and based judgement purely on taste.

All in all is a truly amazing experience.

"This is simply not dining, but rather a uniquely mind-altering experience"