EmojiThe emoji set was built by a global committee, so many Indian foods have no emoji of their own. People solve this by choosing the closest picture. Here is a guide to the best matches and to what is missing.
| Food | Closest emoji |
|---|---|
| Roti, chapati, naan, paratha | 🫓 flatbread |
| Rice, khichdi | 🍚 cooked rice |
| Curry and rice | 🍛 curry rice |
| Dal, sabzi, any pot dish | 🥘 shallow pan of food or 🍲 pot of food |
| Chai | 🍵 teacup without handle or ☕ hot beverage |
| Teapot | 🫖 teapot |
| Mango | 🥭 mango |
| Banana, coconut, lemon | 🍌 🥥 🍋 |
| Chillies, ginger, garlic, onion | 🌶️ 🫚 🧄 🧅 |
| Beans and lentils | 🫘 beans |
| Milk, lassi | 🥛 glass of milk |
| Sweets (mithai, laddoo) | 🍬 candy or 🍮 custard |
| Dumpling-like snacks | 🥟 dumpling |
| Street snacks | 🥙 stuffed flatbread or 🌮 taco (loosely) |
No emoji exists for
Samosa, dosa, idli, biryani, pani puri, jalebi and many other dishes do not have their own emoji. If you sell or share them, write the name in words and use a general food emoji to add colour.
A tip for food sellers
Why many dishes are missing
New emoji are proposed to the Unicode emoji committee, which reviews each proposal. Anyone can submit one, but it has to meet rules about how widely it will be used and how clearly it can be drawn at a small size. A dish that is popular in one country may take years to arrive, and some never do.
Writing a food post
For example: "Fresh parathas 🫓 with curd 🥛 and pickle, ready by 9 am". The words say what the dish is; the emoji add warmth. Keep the dish name in plain letters so people can find and read it.
Customers search by name, not by emoji. Put the dish name in words first, then the emoji. For more, see the food and drink page with all food emoji.