Google Doodle Honors Idli, the Symbol of India’s Culinary Heritage

Even today, Google always presents its doodles with new experiments and creativity. If you checked Google's homepage today, then you might have seen a delicious surprise. This surprise was an idli-themed Google Doodle, one of India's most favorite South Indian dishes. Google dedicated its doodle today to idlis. Google wrote on the doodle, "Celebrating Idli: Today's Doodle is dedicated to idli—a savory, steamed South Indian dish made from a fermented batter of rice and urad dal."

In today's Doodle, each letter of "Google" is decorated with ingredients from the Idli.

• The first "G" resembles grains of rice, the main ingredient of Idli.
• The first "O" represents the white material placed in a bowl.
• The second "O" represents batter filled in a traditional Idli maker.
• The next "G" is made up of several Idlis.
• The "L" is made up of chutney colors.
• The last "E" appears to be made up of a side dish.

The entire setup is placed on a banana leaf, as is traditional in South India. Google stated that this Doodle is part of its "Food and Drink" theme and is launching exclusively for India on October 11, 2025.

People often believe that Idli is an Indian creation, but according to food historians, its roots may also lie abroad. Food expert K.T. Citing Acharya, journalist Vir Sanghvi wrote in his 2018 report that the concept of idli may have originated in medieval Indonesia. According to the theory, Indian cooks traveling from India to Indonesia during that period learned the dish and later popularized it in India. Another theory suggests that idli originated in Arab countries. Arab traders who settled in South India made rice cakes, which over time came to be known as idli.