Frankly, the shops selling local sweets have disappointed me in my quest for sugar-free items. It all started some decades back when I was warned by my physician that my blood sugar is reaching dangerous heights and I should either stop the intake of sugar or start on some medicine to control the situation.
As someone who takes health issues seriously and tries to avoid unnecessary intake of medicines I stopped the intake of sugar in any form immediately and had the situation under control. This of course did not stop my craving for sweets in some form or the other and my search turned to sugar-free sweets and specially the items available in the form of halwa. I got lucky on and off but I have yet to find a steady source of sugar-free halwas of my choice. Yes they are available but not necessarily in the flavours of my choice.
This made me turn to the various caterers. This might surprise you and you will be wondering what has a caterer to offer in terms of sugar-free items. Don’t be surprised but if you are friendly with a caterer there are endless opportunities. This is the source of not only sweet and artificially sweetened items but dishes of various tasty items that are not ordinarily cooked at home. This is how it works. A busy caterer usually has orders from clients for various dishes; some of them really exotic that are not routinely cooked at home. If you inform him early enough he will cook that extra amount you desire and you will in a way participate in a wedding dinner without ever even stepping out of your house.
The same rules apply to the cooking of halwas. In many weddings the host is mindful of the health concerns of guests and takes care to offer sugar-free halwa. Your friend the caterer can inform you that he has an order for sugar-free halwa and if you so desire he can add an extra amount which you can eat at your leisure. There are two halwas that are popular such as carrot and loki and are usually ordered for weddings.
In winter times the carrot halwa is most popular and I myself am a great fan of this sweet delicacy and every winter put in my best efforts to procure it but it is not easy to find it over the counter as it has to be ordered in advance. Yes sounds very simple but is really not as simple as that you walk into a sweet shop order sugar-free halwa and walk out with the halwa bundled under your arm. Only recently, I contacted a famous sweet-shop and asked if they have some sugar-free carrot halwa that I can pick up.
They asked me about the quantity and I informed them I was thinking about half a kilo. I was told that it is not ready-made at the shop but it has to be made on order and they cannot engage their utensils for just half a kilo as it is not feasible for them. The person on the phone representing that shop said he could manage half a kilo but only when he has an order of few kilos so I have to wait and he will call me back when he has such an order in which my order can also be accommodated.
This is the second reply of this kind. Earlier, I had called another very famous player in the field and received more or less the same reply. There are also various offerings on line but most of them decline when confronted with the challenge of producing sugar-free stuff.
So what is so great about the availability or otherwise of sugar-free eatables in the market? Yes I know it is no big deal but it reflects upon the attitude of society as a whole in terms of health issues. So what if sugar-free is not available they will just enjoy the available dishes no matter if their blood sugar is hitting the roof and if it has serious consequences for their health even leading to disability. A tasty experience, which is worth your life. Thank you I will pass on this one.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
The writer is a well-known columnist