--- title: Google Doodle Celebrates Inventor of Camembert Marie Harel description: On what would have been her 256th birthday, Google Doodle honors French dairymaid Marie Harel, the inventor of camembert cheese. canonical: https://time.com/4758882/google-doodle-marie-harel-camembert/ author: Ryan Kilpatrick article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-28T03:49:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:02:52.694Z og:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Inventor of Camembert Marie Harel og:description: Harel's soft-centered cheese is known the world-over og:url: https://time.com/4758882/google-doodle-marie-harel-camembert/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5996c43fba8f211/6988cb0f0b72e325e06ed904/e89ea2e5b995e5bfabe785a7-2017-04-28-e4b88ae58d889-15-57.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: cheesedoodle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Celebrates Inventor of Camembert Marie Harel twitter:description: Harel's soft-centered cheese is known the world-over twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5996c43fba8f211/6988cb0f0b72e325e06ed904/e89ea2e5b995e5bfabe785a7-2017-04-28-e4b88ae58d889-15-57.png?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Celebrates Marie Harel, the Inventor of Camembert Cheese ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Ryan Kilpatrick](https://time.com/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Apr 28, 2017 3:49 AM UTC  Google by [Ryan Kilpatrick](https://time.com/author/ryan-kilpatrick/) ## Ryan Kilpatrick Apr 28, 2017 3:49 AM UTC On what would have been her 256th birthday, Friday’s Google Doodle [honors Marie Harel](https://www.google.com/doodles/marie-harels-256th-birthday), the inventor of Camembert cheese. The story of one of France’s [most popular](http://www.lefigaro.fr/conso/2010/02/04/05007-20100204ARTFIG00534-le-camembert-chahute-par-la-feta-et-la-mozzarella-.php) cheeses goes back to 1791, when Harel was a 30-year-old dairymaid in Vimoutiers in Normandy, northern France. Legend has it that a priest from the northern region of Brie fleeing the anti-clerical French Revolution that was sweeping the country, took shelter near Vimoutiers and taught Harel how to make the soft cheese famous in his home region. Harel added her own twist on the recipe, making her Camembert cheese in smaller wheels and without added cream. She also packaged the finished product in thin, round, wooden containers that have become an international icon. Camembert became a firm fixture in French culture after wheels of the cheese were[ issued](http://www.taste-camembert.com/en/camembert-folklore.php) to soldiers fighting in World War I. Harel’s famous container also made Camembert ideal for transporting across the Atlantic, where it found a new stateside following. 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