Inside the All-Candy Diet

If you’re one of those people who hands out little baggies of pennies tied shut with miscellaneous mismatched bits of string come Halloween, prepare to receive your do-gooder handouts, more often than not, instantly—and directly—regifted in the form of a torrential, shotgun-like spray back at your house. Ditto for any “healthy” proffered snacks. Halloween treats are all about candy, lest you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a kid.

Paul Rudnick—God bless his sugar-coated soul—certainly hasn’t forgotten. His recently documented tour of New York candy shops, which provides a glimpse into his licorice-twisted dietary existence, serves as a hauntingly delicious reminder that we food-industry folks sometimes take ourselves more than a bit too seriously with our ceaseless stream of nutritional nannying. Indeed, exceptions to every rule exist and delight in turning our pandering logic du jour on its ear—especially this time of year.