This company coming to Edmonton blindfolds you before the meal begins

Fever Events' Dining in the Dark event blindfolds guests for a heightened culinary experience. (Source: Fever Events)

EDMONTON -

A special dining event coming to Edmonton in October encourages you to forgo your vision in exchange for heightened taste and smell senses.

Dining in the Dark organizers say removing most light from a venue and blindfolding guests creates an entirely different experience.

"What psychologists have noticed is about 80 per cent of people eat with their eyes," explained Fever Events Canada manager Alexander Boccardi.

"They'll look at a meal and they'll already kind of guess what it tastes like. And, what we're able to do with Dining in the Dark, is once people [are] in a pitch-black room and they're not able to see what they're eating, then they focus a lot more on what's going on around them and on the tastes of the food that they're eating."

The dining room isn't perfectly dark; candles light the space enough for service staff to work, but guests wear blindfolds for the duration of the meal.

The company will offer four nights of Dining in the Dark experiences in Edmonton in October, two dedicated to each Thai and Creole cuisine.

The first time Fever's Dining in the Dark event came to Alberta's capital city, organizers heard from guests they waned to go through the experience again but with a different menu.

"People are craving these experiences," Boccardi said. "And being able to experience a dinner or a night out in a different way, I think, is something that appeals to a younger demographic."

Tickets to the event at The Foundry Room start at $80.

Dining in the Dark first launched in the United Kingdom. 

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Kyra Markov