I've only just recently gotten up on my emoji game, preferring instead Facebook stickers and nouveau emoticons to the sanctioned icons from the Unicode Consortium, but I can appreciate their importance. I mean, they're pretty cool. How else am I supposed to express my desire for sushi? Or that I feel like :|? Using actually words? Come on now.
But for the past year or so, there's been a core emotion I've been unable to express, and I bet you can guess what it is from the headline. But, as mid-2015 Unicode update gets closer, we have a chance to fix that.
]
I'm not the only one who wishes they could tweet about Mexican food using only pictures. A Change.org petition spearheaded by Taco Bell (their PR team is on point. Good job down there, Irvine HQ!) has collected over 27,000 signatures in support of the taco emoji. Seeing how none of the other 36 really have a PR campaign them, I expect the taco to make it.
And that's super-exciting, because if we can express our love for sushi, pizza, cake, fries, rice, and freaking Japanese fish cake, we should be able to express our love for Mexican food (This is the sort of thing that happens when Japanese people develop an International standard).
But really though, as awesome as it would be to send a tweet made up of 140 tacos, it could be better. Among the 36 other candidate emojis (there's no telling how many of them actually get in), there's a better, more universal symbol of Mexi- food that I think we all can agree on. It's the burrito.
Yes, tacos are great (though, as Gustavo says, the emoji would be a better candidate if it weren't a hardshell taco), but at this point, I think everyone can agree that burritos just get more love. Everyone loves Chipotle (as average as it is), and breakfast burritos are magical. Too bad there's no giant multi-national fast food chain behind the burrito emoji (you really dropped the ball on that one, Chipotle).
But hey, a step is a step, so sign that petition and by the end of the year tacos will top most-used emoji lists every where.
But in the meantime, I'm #TeamBurrito
Follow Stick a Fork In It on Twitter @ocweeklyfood or on Facebook! And don't forget to download our free Best Of App here!
You can also follow Charles Lam on Twitter @charlesnlam and Instagram @charlesnlam. He's less sardonic there, we swear.
