After various complaints from emoji lovers and taco Tuesday enthusiasts all over the world, the taco emoji finally became reality this year — but that doesn't mean the fight for underrepresented food emoji is over. The Dumpling Emoji Project, for example, has launched a petition aimed at getting a dumpling emoji to exist, and it just might be the new taco emoji petition. According to the Dumpling Emoji Project, the dumpling is "one of the most universal cross-cultural foods in the world"; as such, they say, it's worthy of inclusion in the global emoji set.
It's a fair argument if you look at all the different types of dumplings that exist — Georgia has khinkali, Japan has gyoza, Korea has mandook, Italy has ravioli, Poland has pierogi, Russia has pelmeni, China has potstickers, and Nepal and Tibet have momos. With such a wide reach and culinary influence, it's certainly a little sad that dumplings get left out of our pictorial conversations, so the Dumpling Project set out to find out how emoji were chosen in the first place. They found out that there are 11 full voting members in the Unicode Consortium who choose what emoji we do and don't see, meaning only a tiny handful of people get to decide our emoji fates.
The Dumpling Emoji Project has a wide variety of supporters that range from video editors, professors, CEOs, and deans, according to it's website; its members are currently pushing a petition for dumpling emoji equality on change.org that would introduce dumplings to the standard Unicode set. But the petition also calls for so much more than that, urging us to take a closer look at the decision-making process behind the emojis. The Dumpling Emoji Project is interested on shedding light on "the process of determining how digital communicators are given the tools with which to express ourselves... we think that the decision making power should be more democratic." Powerful stuff, no?
And like the taco before it, the dumpling is far from the only food that is conspicuously absent from the Unicode set. We could all use these seven other food emoji in our lives — so, voting members of the Unicode Consortium? It's not too late to add these much-needed pictograms!
1. Cupcake Emoji
So I don't have to text a cup and a cake every time I'm trying to get someone a cupcake.
2. Mozzarella Stick Emoji
McDonalds has hopped on the mozzarella stick bandwagon, so it's time Unicode does, too.
3. Burrito Bowl Emoji
Sure, we have the burrito — but what about all the gluten-free burrito babes out there who can't have their fixings wrapped in a tortilla?
4. Bagel Emoji
Because you can put so many things on a bagel — cream cheese, salmon, eggs, tofu, bacon... the list goes on. Their versatility alone demands emoji status.
5. Avocado Emoji
Good news: The avocado is forthcoming! Hooray!
6. Pancake Emoji
Because, like my feelings about cupcakes, I'm tired of combining the pan emoji with the cake emoji. Plus, the pan has an egg in it, so that's kind of confusing for everyone involved.
7. Grilled Cheese Emoji
Because cheese is bae and bread is bae and and grilling it all together is super bae.
Images: Wikimedia Commons; Giphy (7)
