‘Chaat frenzy’: Google’s pani puri doodle delights Australian chefs, sparks chat on social media

Google paid tribute to the popular Indian street food 'pani puri', also known as 'gol gappa' on 12 July. The iconic snack triggered a lively discussion on social media amongst Indian celebrities, foodie netizens and local culinary experts alike.

Calling it 'Foodle,' Google celebrated its first doodle on food with India's famous street food, 'pani puri' on 12 July. This gesture has tickled the tastebuds of Australian chefs and culinary business owners of South Asian heritage. Credit: Deepak Sethi/Getty Images

Key Points

• A Google doodle on the popular Indian street food 'pani puri', also known as 'gol gappa', was released on 12 July.
• 'Pani Puri' belongs to a wide array of popular street snacks called 'chaat' enjoyed across India.
• Many Indian celebrities took to social media to share their delight after the Google doodle.

Google typically creates doodles to celebrate high achievers, festivals or events that appeal to a large number of people.

But it made an exception of sorts on 12 July.

"Today’s interactive game Doodle celebrates pani puri — a popular South Asian street food made of a crispy shell stuffed with potatoes, chickpeas, spices, or chilis and flavoured waters," Google said.

Credit: Google - Art & UX Lead: Anthony Irwin Art: Olivia When

Highly popular across India, the snack is known by various names like pani puri, gol gappa, gupchup, pani ke batashe or patashe and puchka due to its numerous regional adaptations.

Pani puri or gol gappa comes under a category of street food known as chaat across India which includes a wide array of tangy, spicy and crispy snacks that are usually served and eaten by the roadside.

The statement explained why this popular snack was chosen for the doodle.

“On this day in 2015, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a restaurant called Indori Zayka and Dainik Bhaskar achieved the World Record for serving the most flavours of pani puri by offering 51 options, under the guidance of Masterchef Neha Shah,” Google stated.

This restaurant is believed to have served the highest number of pani puri flavours.

'Pani puri' is often served with mint-flavoured water and boiled chickpeas as shown above. Source: Moment RF / AshaSathees Photography/Getty Images

“Though there are many different types of filling and pani for everyone’s unique palette, there are two things everyone can agree on: eat the pani puri quickly to avoid the puri getting soggy or leaking, and always eat it in one bite to avoid a crumbly mess,” Google stated.

The doodle included an embedded interactive game in which Google asked netizens to play and help a street vendor team fulfil orders for pani puri.

Chef Manpreet Sekhon whose upscale dining establishment in Melbourne offers a diverse range of gol gappe, says it is impressive to see the snack on the Google search engine.

Manpreet Sekhon is Melbourne-based chef. Credit: Manpreet Sekhon

“Everyone loves it, and we serve it in a traditional way as well as with a twist of liquor,” Ms Sekhon said, adding that it is one of the top-selling items at her restaurant.

“We take pride in serving our street foods here, and it’s great to see them becoming popular,” she added.

MasterChef Australia Season 13 runner-up Kishwar Chowdhury told SBS Hindi that as a chef of South Asian heritage, it was “really cool” to see food from the region being recognised and celebrated in the mainstream.

Kishwar Chowdhury was known for her inventive takes on several popular South Asian dishes on MasterChef Australia.

“In Australia, we are seeing this snack pop up in more spaces and even in fine dining restaurants,” she said.

“I love the different versions like gol gappa stuffed with crab and one of my signature [dishes], a compressed beetroot and goat’s cheese pani puri,” Ms Chowdhury added.

Charan Sandhu has been in the catering industry for the last 15 years in Melbourne.

He puts up live stalls of Indian street food including gol gappa.

Charan Sandhu

“Gol gappa was being fondly called as ‘hollow balls’ served with mint-flavoured water, chickpeas and spices amongst the wider community in Australia,” he said.

“It is an extremely unique and popular food, and we have observed its popularity increase in this part of the world too,” Mr Sandhu added.

Following the release of the doodle, many celebrities took to Twitter and shared their pictures and videos enjoying the snack.

Famous Indian singer Anup Jalota posted a video of himself eating pani puri and wrote, "I am celebrating India's best known street food #Panipuri with #GoogleDoodle. #panipuriday."

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