The new paella emoji will join a host of new emoticons including 'facepalm', a bat and a John Travolta-esque dancing man.
The news is being greeted with excitement in Spain, where, since early 2015 a group of Spaniards have been campaigning for an emoji of the rice-based dish.
But of all the foods to choose, why does paella need an emoji?
“Why not?!” Eugeni Alemany, a comedian who spearheaded the campaign told The Local at the time “You have the chicken leg and the shrimp tail; who the fuck sends the shrimp tail!?
“Paella is a dish that means harmony and friendship,” he added.
Alemany led a social media campaign calling on Spaniards to use the hashtag #paellaemoji to put pressure on Silicon Valley in the United States to introduce the food-based emoji.
The Emojipedia announced that Unicode – the company in charge of making emojis – would be introducing 74 new emojis including everything from a baguette, a croissant and an avocado to a cowboy, a shopping trolly and shotgun.
They will be introduced in mid-2016 along with the latest iOS update for iPhones.
But one aspect of the emoji is disappointing paella purists – the design. Paella rice brand La Fallera tweeted:
@Emojipedia the source of our unhappiness is to mix chicken,prawns & peas in the same spoonful, pls let us help you to fine tune the design
— La Fallera (@arrozlafallera) January 25, 2016
Member comments