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Vegan-compatible salad at Google

June 7, 2018.

Vegan-compatible salad.

© 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.”