In a Heroic Bid for Inclusivity, Google Makes Its Salad Emoji Vegan-Friendly

In its latest move towards inclusivity, Google developers are ditching the egg in the Android salad emoji to make it more vegan-friendly. The company revealed the latest updates for Android P users today on its developers blog. The changes will include 157 new emoji, including bagels with cream cheese and updates to a few existing emoji, like the green salad, according to the Verge.

“There’s big talk about inclusion and diversity at Google,” Jennifer Daniel, head of design for Google emoji, tweeted today. “So if you need any evidence of Google is making this priority may I direct your attention to the emoji — we’ve removed the egg in Android P beta 2, making this a more inclusive vegan salad.”

The new version of the salad looks a little sad and, honestly, vegans deserve better (maybe throw in some carrots to brighten up all that lettuce and tomato?). Perhaps consider taking some cues from Apple’s salad emoji, which is served sans animal products but comes dressed up with plenty of sliced red onion, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Do better Google.

For unreasonably proud meat eaters on the edge of complaining about vegans (you know who you are), pork lovers are are also getting a treat in the latest Android update. Google is making those rippling slices of bacon pixels look more crisp and cooked with some added brown color. For the record: Apple already got that right, too.

This isn’t the first time Google has bent to the will of opinionated food consumers. Last fall, as debate raged over the absurd placement of the cheese on Android’s burger emoji (below the patty, really?), the company issued a new version.

• Android P Beta 2 Includes 157 New Emoji and Has Gender-Neutral Options [The Verge]
• Bagel Emoji Finally Added to the List for 2018 [E]
• All Tech Coverage [E]