Every year, Unicode reviews dozens of submissions for new emojis to be added to the lexicon. Over time, the evolving language has been expanded to include different skin tones, cultural icons and family groups in many different configurations. Of course the emojis that we are most excited about are the food icons.
The new 9 food and drink emoji are: Garlic, Onion, Waffle, Falafel (a Middle Eastern deep fried dumpling made of ground chickpeas), Butter, Oyster, Beverage box, Mate (a traditional caffeinated South American drink similar to coffee) and an Ice cube.
Anyone can submit a proposal for a new emoji. All the details you need are right here on the Unicode website. We took a look at the waffle emoji proposal, and we found our new foodie hero, waffle creator Jay Peters.
Jay begins his proposal by motivating the need for a waffle emoji, “ There are the similar flour-based breakfast-themed foods of PANCAKES, BAGEL, CROISSANT, and BAGUETTE BREAD, unique opportunity to create a WAFFLE emoji that represents a globally popular breakfast food”.
Did someone say waffle discrimination?
Jay continues to explain how the waffle emoji may be used, to either represent “waffle”, a more general breakfast or even to indicate being indecisive about something as in to “waffle over a decision”.
He recommends using the waffle emoji in conjunction with other popular emojis such as BACON, PANCAKE, HONEY or even ICE CREAM.
BAKE THIS RECIPE: Peppermint Crisp waffles
Peters then continues to support his proposal by gathering data from search engines and social media, to indicate the growing usage of the word waffle, and perhaps more importantly, the need for such an icon in our digital communications.
Jay finishes off his proposal to the Unicode board with his “waffle recipe that I love.”
Ingredients: (makes 5+ waffles)
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
3 ½ teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs, separated
1 ½ cup milk
1 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Waffle iron (I use this one)
Directions:
1. Plug in waffle iron to let it heat up while you’re mixing the ingredients. Spray with cooking oil.
2. Combine flour, sugar, and baking powder.
3. Separate eggs, lightly beat yolks.
4. Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.
5. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add to batter.
6. Stir everything together for a few minutes.
7. Pour ~¾ cup of batter into the heated waffle iron, close the iron, and flip it over.
8. Let batter sit in the waffle iron for two minutes.
9. When two minutes are up, flip the waffle iron back over, and remove the waffle from the iron.
It should be noted that Jay had not one, but two new emojis added to V12 of unicode. His “yawning face” was also approved.
Watch all 230 new emojis in V12 2019:
WAFFLE RECIPE: Bacon mac and cheese waffles
