Our Team Blinded By Great Food

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The Pixel Dreams team went on a dining and team building adventure Apr. 15 to O.Noir. A sensory deprivation restaurant requiring serious concentration just to engage in the simple act of eating. Why were Pixel Dreams team members having such difficult time eating a meal outside the confines of our lunch room? Well, O.Noir’s fascinating marketing campaign is to provide their patrons with a sensation of blindness.

“This socially conscious concept sprang from Jorge Spielmann, a blind pastor in Zurich who used to blindfold his dinner guests at his home so they could share his eating experience. In 1999, Spielmann opened Blindekuh (German for Blind Cow); a project aimed at teaching the sighted about the sightless world, and provide jobs for blind people.”

Consider their mission statement accomplished!
We ordered our meals in a dim-lighted dining hall. The last light we would see until after we ate desert. Our waitress held Pixel Dreams chosen team leader’s shoulder to bring us into the dining hall. Everyone followed behind by touching the person in front of them. Excellent team work was required to get to our table and seats. It was so dark our waitress had to explain where our dining utensils were. Lose those and you could go hungry!

There’s opportunity for culinary surprise, but only our keyword ninja opted to go full bore with “surprise me” meal options. The only item he knew with certainty would be his drink, Coke Cola. That’s because we dined in a hall where we couldn’t see our hands 1,000 pixels from our faces. I knew my meal was veal, but keyword ninja had an amazing time figuring his courses through taste alone. I had the veal, but next time I too will order “surprise me”.

O.Noir demonstrated wonderfully what it would be like to dine blind. We left with a profound understanding of the obstacles blind people face. Especially as people who primarily deal with visuals all day.