You Should Know About the Unicode Consortium

Food and drinks account for just 82 of around 2,000 emojis approved by the Unicode Consortium.

It is the official body that regulates what emojis are added and their appearance, ensuring they work on different devices. NPR reports that Food and drinks account for just 82 of around 2,000 emojis approved by the Unicode Consortium, On Twitter, while millions of pizza slices have been sent, there is no sausage emoji ,no chips and but a dearth of vegetables. There is a science to emoji’s that has frustrated a lot of food brands that feel that adding emojis should be as simple as buying a UPC code.

So what makes a great food emoji?  

Gedeon Maheux is the co-founder of The Iconfactory, which is behind many of Twitter and Facebook Messenger's versions of standard emojis.   

To design an emoji, he tells NPR, you need the absolute minimum number of characteristics required to effectively communicate what that thing is. There's no text to help people understand whether that's a chestnut or an acorn, and space, color gradients and shading are all restricted, so making food look representative and appetizing is tricky. 

Emoji originated from Japan and this is perhaps the biggest influence on the foodstuffs now available: there's ramen, sushi, numerous rice dishes and special Japanese desserts.   

According to a recent report from Emogi, a messaging platform based around emoji, gifs and stickers, 75 percent of U.S. consumers are interested in having more emoji choices. "People want stronger emoji options across categories including food — not just a coffee emoji, but specific drinks, not just food emoji, but specific restaurants or dishes," says Alexis Berger, Emogi's chief strategy officer.

Taco Bell successfully lobbied successfully for a taco emoji, could food and drink brands be the next big influence on emoji?