Sweet! Gingerbread Man Just Lost His Gender

Gingerbread man has gone gender neutral in a New Zealand cafe.

The Tannery cafe is now serving “GingerBread Gender Neutral Person” cookies to their customers for the upcoming holiday, and most of the patrons are relishing the politically correct treat that comes for $2.50.

The cafe owner, Andre Cettina, told news outlets that the more “inclusive” option was inspired by a customer who asked why the popular holiday snacks weren’t called “gingerbread people”?

Though Cettina playfully rechristened gingerbread man in October, she was pleasantly surprised when customers welcomed the change and greeted the inclusiveness with a positive outlook.

“It was completely tongue-in-cheek at the start,” she said. “But it’s become a really good conversation piece in the cafe.”

The cafe is catching a lot of social media buzz too. Many of the locals are sharing photos of the cafe’s gender-neutral offerings. The buzz is generating not only more customers, but adding to the gender conversation that has been shaking up standards.

“It used to be that 90 percent of the time we sold [gingerbread men], it was to kids. There’s a lot more people buying them now, which is quite funny,” Cettina said

However, the change is not welcomed by everyone. The owner mentioned to news outlets that they have received some negative comments too. “We’ve had a lot of people commenting saying ‘stop being so pedantic, it’s just a biscuit.’ I had to reply to them going, ‘Did you miss the whole point?'”

This is not the first time dear old "gingy" was caught in the flux of language. U.K. supermarket chain Co-op Food announced the launch of their gingerbread “person,” earlier this year. The treat was named “Crumbs,” according to Stuff.

The gender neutral conversation related to food items is a continuation of the language sanitization spree in other fields, including the renaming of manholes in Berkeley, California and the introduction of a gender-neutral Barbie. Air Canada has stopped greeting its passengers "ladies and gentlemen" to be more inclusive.