How food emoji are born

According to Emojipedia, there are currently 97 emoji (aka emoticons) that are food- or drink-related. Most of us have probably used one while texting, whether to congratulate someone (clinking flutes, around since 2016) or to tell your partner what to bring home for dinner (pizza slice, available since 2010.) But have you ever wondered how the food emoji are chosen? You can follow along with Kendall-Jackson’s petition to add a white wine emoticon to learn about the process. 

The decision on which new emoji to add to the lexicon is the sole responsibility of  the Unicode Consortium, which oversees the Unicode Standard. The Standard involves not only emoji, but also typographical symbols and other special characters. Having one organization in charge of it leads to uniformity across platforms and devices. 

The red wine emoticon has been around since 2010 (doesn’t it seem longer?), and the first call to add a white wine glass (determined by tracking the hashtag #whitewineemoji) came in 2014. Since then, online petitions have been circulating but nothing has come of those pleas. 

Recently, however, winemaker Kendall Jackson has stepped into the fray, submitting a formal petition to the Unicode Consortium to add a white wine emoji. Two other wineries also submitted proposals, but only one petition is permitted at a time, and Kendall Jackson’s was chosen to go forward. 

“What’s missing isn’t the world’s passion for white wine – it’s simply the symbol for white wine,” says K-J’s Director of Marketing Maggie Curry. “This all-important beverage should be properly illustrated in modern communication.”  Don’t get too excited about being able to add the beverage to your next text message – even if the petition is granted, the earliest the new emoji will be available in 2019.