Diwali for gastronomic indulgence – beyond sweets & chocolates

A quick question: how many unopened boxes of Diwali sweets do you have at your homes? With the festivities still continuing the binging on food and fun is on. The buying frenzy leading up to Diwali saw numerous boxes of traditional sweets being bought and exchanged. And the options are mindboggling.

From the customised sweets packages from the local mithaiwalas to branded hampers from the likes of Haldirams, Bikano, etc., to popular brands of chocolates like Cadbury, Nestle, Amul, to gourmet chocolates, to specialty cakes – we have all gifted and received as gifts.

Along with it there will be several attractively packaged platters of assorted dry fruits. Traditional sweets, chocolates and dry fruits have for long been preferred for gifting during Diwali.

However, with Millennials looking for offbeat gifts, other options such as exotic tea hampers, cheese, wine, spice and spice blends, sugar-free preparations, low calorie indulgence are also being increasingly preferred.

As in the previous festive seasons, this year, too, saw brands aggressively promoting their brands with attractive packaging. One campaign that caught our eyes was the one-of-its-kind creative by Cadbury, wherein it let customers create an advertisement for their local stores for free featuring Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan in it.

Diwali has always been a coming together of family and friends, food, fun and indulgence. After last year, when the pandemic forced people to celebrate Diwali in isolation and over video calls, this year saw people getting back together with a vengeance. One carryover from last year has been turning to online shopping for all the delicacies and gifting. As more and more brands as well as traditional outlets took to e-commerce to widen their reach, consumers preferred the contactless and safe shopping experience.

Brand campaigns, too, celebrated ‘home-comings’ for Diwali – families separated by distances and the global pandemic, friends locked in work from home mode. The high-on-emotions campaigns found great traction.

And when family and friends drop in for a visit, the inevitable box of sweet indulgence accompanies them. No matter how much we may internally groan ‘Not another soan papdi or kaju katli’, we always welcome that brightly packed box of indulgence. On a personal note, for me mithais will always win over chocolates and other edible gifts – more so, if that mithai is prepared at home. Because that instantly conveys all the love and wamth that goes into the very time-consuming process of preparing traditional Indian sweets at home. I know that every ingredient that goes into the mithai has been lovingly chosen and under extremely hygienic conditions.

It is this emotional connect that is found missing in heavily advertised chocolates category. Can a factory-made bar of chocolate ever compete with that sweet laddoo your mother or grandma lovingly prepared, slogging for hours in the kitchen?

If I have to choose something besides homemade sweets, it will be dry fruit. Assorted dry fruits in beautifully designed boxes have also been a staple of Diwali gifts. So far, we haven’t seen too many branded dry fruit options except for the likes of California Almonds, Karmiq, Happilo, Urban Platter, Solimo. But they hardly come up with any brand campaigns. One can find all hyper-malls, grocery stores and even local kirana stores stock up on dry fruit packs to suit all pockets.

For GenZ, which is always ready for new experiences, chocolates and gourmet food form a major part of their gifting options. Millennials have been seen going for more exotic choices such as tea hampers, cheese platters, wine, spice and spice blends, artisanal chocolate, etc. For the health conscious there are options like sugar-free preparations, low calorie indulgence, protein bars, honey, preparations made from traditional Indian grains like Ragi, Jowar, Rajgira, etc.

The pandemic period has made people all the more health and calorie conscious. Hence, traditional mitaiwalas have been adapting to changing preferences and giving traditional Indian sweets, which are calorie bombs, a healthy twist. They have also been innovating with newer ingredients and flavours to introduce variety to their offerings.

Branded chocolates, too, have been going healthy, introducing dark chocolate versions as well as introducing variety by adding different blends such as orange, mint, spices and even tea. One advantage that chocolates have over mithais is the long shelf life. If stored in proper conditions, dry fruits, too, last long.

So, be it traditional sweets, chocolates, or dry fruits, this Diwali, too, saw indulgence of all kinds. Adding joy to the festivities was that families and friends could come together in person to celebrate the festival. Innovation and indulgence marked Diwali gifting choices and brands pulled out all stops to adapt to the changing consumer preferences.