It is what the name suggests – a dining experience in complete darkness. ‘Dark Table‘ is a local restaurant here in Vancouver that embodies what social entrepreneurship is all about. The concept behind this blind dining experience is an attempt to provide customers with an experience of the heightening of senses which occurs when sight is removed. This unique idea has sparked a lot of interest within the local community and what has brought even more positive publicity for the restaurant is the fact that all the employed servers are blind.

The owner of ‘Dark Table’, Moe Alameddine, is proud to provide employment for the visually impaired. In BC, the unemployment rate of the blind is a staggering 65-70%, which means that an opportunity such as the one that Alameddine is providing will be extremely hard to come by. Alameddine has said that “It was really hard in the first couple of months in Montreal to train people when I started. I didn’t have any experience with blind people and I had to start by teaching them how to come to the restaurant on the bus.” Although there were many obstacles that needed to be overcome at the beginning, the positive effects of this business venture will be greatly felt by the visually impaired community of Vancouver.

To read more, click here.

From reading a blog post written by my fellow classmate Christian Legazpi on the consumption of shark fins, I was compelled to comment on it because of how closely it relates to me on a personal level.

Although the government here in Canada has motioned a ban toward the consumption of shark fin due to the endangerment of the animal, many restaurants in Asia simply don’t care about these issues and continue to exploit this profitable market. Not only do restaurants in Asia continue to distribute shark fin soup, the majority of consumers either don’t know or don’t care about the consequences behind their actions.

In 2011, Gordon Ramsay visited my hometown Taipei where he tried shark fin soup for the first time and commented that the fin itself was ‘tasteless’. He could not comprehend why people would pay such a large sum of money for this delicacy and was appalled by the huge demand. His visit led him to campaign against the brutal and destructive shark fishing industry and the creation of a 47 minute documentary on his discoveries was made. Here is a short snippet of the video below:

Christian’s blog post has been extremely educational in terms of illustrating the brutal and inhumane processes of this controversial issue. However, I do disagree with him when he mentions the ‘small popularity of shark fin soup’, as this industry has continued to thrive because of the great demand. Yes, abolishing shark fishing may lead to black market trade, but this topic is undeniably unethical and governments should be doing more to educate their citizens.