One Club Sandwich, Hold Everything But the Turkey

O, woe are the bread bakers! With the carb-free diet on the loose, those eating out in the Square are scorning scones and turning down tortillas in favor of sugar-free snacks and bread-free sandwich meat. According to the Harvard COOP, the South Beach Diet and Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution are numbers 2 and 3 on the campus best-seller list. Popular Square eateries are also catering to the demand.

Hi-Rise bakery manager Omar J. Kamal says patrons have been asking about South Beach Diet Muffins and Durham wheat sandwiches. “If they wanted low-carb I don’t know why they came here,” he shrugs.

At Au Bon Pain, manager Sushil Upadhyan says several people a week hold the bun or foccacia on their sandwich, or ask for only one slice. ABP’s new “zero trans fat” pastry advertisement has increased sales of pumpkin, chocolate chip and blueberry muffins, and Upadhyan says more people are switching to skim milk in their coffee.

Hidden Sweets caters to the carb-free set as well, with an entire wall full of sugar-free candy. Manager Judd M. Braverman says sugar-free options in the store have spiked in popularity. Customers can choose between over 50 sugar-free options, including jumbo peanut butter cups, chocolate-covered peanuts and gummi bears. “There’s a lot more questions about candies,” says Braverman. “They assume that sugar-free means low-carb as well.” Among the top-sellers is Asher’s “milk chocolate flavored” bar, a $1.75 treat boasting a meager 0.1 grams of carbs (oh, and 17 grams of fat).

But some say Harvard Square shoppers may just be pretending to not know the muffin man.

“We throw out a ton of whole wheat bagels every night,” says Finagle a Bagel manager Celio Silva.

Café Gato Rojo assistant manager Molly M. Faulkner-Bond ’06 says some have asked about bran muffins, but most students are still snapping up croissants, cookies and éclairs.

“If anything, business is up,” she says. “And all we have is bread. Sugar and bread.”