The Candy Men

Jon Enoch travelled to India to shoot this incredible series, showcasing the candy floss sellers of Mumbai. These are The Candy Men.

Never more popular than in the age of social media for some eye-catching likes, the pink sugar clouds are popular for those looking for an affordable treat as the country emerges from a gruelling series of Covid lockdowns and restrictions.  

Enoch’s series shows the sellers, the men who live and work in the western sprawl of Mumbai near the cotton candy selling grounds of the beaches and fairs, and their unique and varied ways of displaying their goods and attracting buyers. 

Mumbai is India’s most populous city, home to Bollywood stars and the country’s financial centre. India’s recent economic expansion is unsurprisingly being stalked by a growing obesity and dental crisis. Lassi, fresh juices and home-cooked foods are being replaced with an explosion of cheap sugar.

Candy floss and brightly coloured Indian sweets have been found to sometimes use banned artificial food colouring, specifically Rhodamine B, which is a staining fluorescent dye, banned because it’s potentially carcinogenic and unfit for human consumption.