The Hidden Japanese Food Emoji Revealed

Emojis have saturated our texts and tweets, and everyone is familiar with perennial food favorites like the coffee cup and the bowl of noodles. Some food emojis are more esoteric, however, and we needed a little help to decipher them (most are Japanese snacks that are not as common in the US). However, Bon Appetit may have just uncovered the most esoteric food emoji of all: an emoji with a moon, grass, and what appears to be a basket of eggs. However, this emoji actually references a fall Japanese moon-viewing ceremony, Tsukimi. And the basket doesn’t contain eggs, it is full of mini mochi (rice cakes)! Tsukimi is celebrated to honor the autumn harvest, and includes food, drink and tables covered with tall grasses, and bowls of mochi and chestnuts. Yum!