Indian street food favorite: The enduring appeal of pani puri snacks
In the vibrant streets of India, street vendors serving up Pani Puri have been defying stereotypes and prioritising safety. Despite the common misconception, these vendors meticulously use filtered water and fresh ingredients to prepare this popular snack.
The love for Pani Puri extended beyond India's borders in 2023, when Google celebrated July 12 as "Pani Puri Day" with an interactive Google Doodle. This digital celebration honoured a world record set by Indori Zyaka, a restaurant based in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India, which served an astonishing 51 unique flavours of Pani Puri on the same day in 2015.
The popularity of Pani Puri continued to soar in 2024, with Curry Corner, an Indian-owned restaurant in Minneapolis, USA, offering free Pani puris to the public. A video of the event, shared on Instagram, quickly went viral, amassing 3.9 million views and significantly boosting the dish's popularity.
Notable figures from around the world have also experienced the delight of Pani Puri. In March 2023, former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Japan's Ambassador to India, Hiroshi Suzuki, both enjoyed Indian street food, including Pani Puri, during their visits to Varanasi.
In recent years, Pani Puri has also made its way to unexpected corners of the globe. In April 2025, a group of students at a university in Budapest, Hungary, tried Pani Puri for the first time, marking another milestone in the dish's global journey.
However, Pani Puri is not free from gender biases and stereotypes in India, with many perceiving it as "a girl's snack." Despite this, the snack's popularity continues to grow, transcending borders and breaking down stereotypes one bite at a time.
As Pani Puri continues its journey to global fame, it serves as a testament to the power of food to bring people together and to break down cultural barriers.
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