Washington State students will have the opportunity to dine in the dark at a Student Entertainment Board (SEB) event intended to provide a sensory immersion experience.

The Blind Cafe is a traveling experiment that will take place in the Fine Arts Building Gallery II Thursday and Friday at 5:30 and 8:30 p.m. A reception will take place at 5 and 8 p.m. both nights.

“(The Blind Cafe) gives you a glimpse into what it’s like to be visually impaired,” said Angel Nava, arts coordinator for the CUB Gallery.

SEB brought in Rosh Rocheleau’s Blind Cafe in order to offer students the opportunity to experience what it is like to go through life not being able to see.

“The Blind Cafe was started in February 2010,” Rocheleau said. “I went to a cafe in the dark in Iceland that had been for Disabilities Awareness Week.”

Rocheleau said the experience intrigued him and thought it would be a great event to start in large cities across the U.S.

The Blind Cafe is based out of Boulder, Colorado, and travels to major cities like Seattle, Portland, Austin, and San Francisco. The event has also expended to college campuses, with WSU being one of the first to have a visit.

Having a meal in the dark makes audience members focus on their other senses instead of just sight, Nava said.

“(The Blind Cafe) creates an experience that prevents you from judging a book by its cover,” she said. “You can’t be judged on what you wear, your skin color, et cetera.”

Additionally, the event is staffed completely by the blind, which adds a unique twist, Nava said.

“Usually blind people rely on others’ eyes to navigate spaces,” she said. “But for this, the visually impaired are guiding people who can see.”

The Blind Cafe event will consist of a dinner, concert and a discussion. WSU chef Corey King is supervising the dinner.

“A bunch of my chefs are taking a portion of the food,” King said. “Once (the audience) eats, we’ll do a presentation on what they just ate.”

King is adding unique molecular twists to traditional food in order to aid in the sensory stimulation The Blind Cafe tries to induce.

“We’re doing traditional food with little twists,” he said. “It’ll be cool using other senses to determine how the food tasted.”

One twist King said he is adding to a dish is an edible wrapper for a dessert. However, he didn’t want to spill too much about the adaptions to keep the audience in the dark.

A concert led by legally blind people will accompany the dinner, Nava said. There will also be a keynote speaker, Rick Hammond, who is blind, Rocheleau said. Once the meal is over, a discussion about the experience will take place.

Rocheleau said the experience is not just about blindness – it’s about people.