You’ve probably heard the phrase “girl dinner” circling on social media. Some have had it without knowing of the concept and its meaning. Some dislike hearing the saying and others live by it.
Some days are mentally and physically harder than others, and during those days shifting your efforts to making a nutritious meal seems impossible. Instead of one meal, a “girl dinner” can include a variety of little appetizers and snacks. People tend to choose these foods because they are comfortable and can occasionally bring back childhood memories.
Girl dinner is similar to a Lunchable in terms of visuals, and was first introduced on TikTok where the craze amassed more than 30 million views. A creatively prepared collection of appetizers that, when eaten in large enough quantities, can be considered a meal. At least, that is the theory.
In that they are quick and easy meals, these dinners are comparable to depression meals. Although they may not be very nutritious, they are something you enjoy and need just minimal preparation.
The term first emerged in a video released on TikTok this spring by a showrunner’s assistant who is presently unemployed due to the writers’ strike and who admired the honesty of a modest, medieval-peasant-inspired mixture she identified as “girl dinner.”
“She said she and her friend had been discussing the unmatched perfection of bread and cheese as a meal unto itself, as simple as it is satisfying. We love eating that way, and it feels like such a girl dinner because we do it when our boyfriends aren’t around, and we don’t have to have what’s a ‘typical dinner’ — essentially, with a protein and a veggie and a starch,” 28-year-old Olivia Maher told the New York Times.
Like any other trend, the phrase has been frowned upon by many dieticians, researchers, and know-it-alls. Even the term “boy dinner” was coined after girl dinner skyrocketed. Similarly, boy dinner has the opposite yet same energy as girl dinner.
“Boy dinner is meant to show a stereotypical dinner that a man would eat which is satirically masculine, meaning it’s simple and barbaric,” the New York Post said.
Emily Contois, a media studies professor at the University of Tulsa who studies food and gender, sees the trend as a “joyful laziness,” or a way to throw typical dining rules and expectations out the window.
A lot of users like to argue that girl dinners could be masking disordered eating, but supporters of the trend have specified that a girl dinner is not about the lack of food.
“Women have long been programmed to see food as the enemy, but the girl dinner trend is about embracing the simple joy of snacks as meals,” according to the New York Times. “Girl dinner represents a conscious choice to opt out of the tyranny of cooking and doing the dishes. It’s also, conveniently, the answer to fridge clean out day.”
As a college student who doesn’t have access to a kitchen while on campus and studies long until midnight, I find myself having more girl dinners than anything else. Getting home during late hours when everyone is asleep, plus the mental exhaustion of being at school all day, leaves me and other students with practically no choice.
Whether it’s pasta with butter, a bag of popcorn, cheese and crackers, pickles with peanut butter or just some plain bread, girl dinner can be anything you want it to be, as long as it requires minimal presence of mind, little to no assembly or plating that normally goes into an actual meal.