Vegan-compatible salad at Google

© Twitter.

Google announced a new beta version of Android P which includes updates of existing emojis as well as 157 new emojis, like a skateboard and a lobster. Observant observers observed that the green salad emoji no longer includes a slice of hard-boiled egg; designer Jennifer Daniel, who works on user interfaces at Google, explained on Twitter: “There’s big talk about inclusion and diversity at Google so if you need any evidence of Google is making this priority may I direct your attention to the salad emoji — we’ve removed the egg in Android P beta 2, making this a more inclusive vegan salad.” In fact, there is now a greater diversity of salads on all the different platforms: Apple chose a cucumber, tomato and Spanish onion combo, Facebook went for the Mediterranean diet with black olives and Feta cheese, while Samsung settled for a few slices of peppers. But the real question is, if Google goes further down the vegan-compatible path, does this mean no more pepperoni on the pizza emoji? Or shrimp and mussels on the paella? What about the hard-boiled egg in the bento box? And isn’t the bacon slices emoji offensive to the vegan community as a whole? But there’s no need to worry: while many took Jennifer Daniel’s tweet literally, it was probably meant to be humorous, and should not be taken too seriously.

⇨ Mashable, “Google changes salad emoji to make it inclusive for vegans, the internet reacts.”

⇨ The Verge, “Android P Beta 2 includes 157 new emoji and has gender-neutral options.”