Girl dinner, a term originally coined in May by digital content creator Olivia Maher, refers to a small meal that can be thrown together easily without any advanced planning, preparation time or cooking. The term caught on when Maher made a video on TikTok in May about her ideal meal being some bread, grapes, cheese and a glass of wine. Now, in July, this trend has exploded with over a thousand posts with the tag #girldinner on Instagram.
“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,” said Maher in a story by New York Times titled Is it a meal? Is it a snack? No, It’s ‘Girl Dinner.’ published on 8 July.
Several food bloggers on Instagram like Maria Flood (@_mariaharte_) and Maegan Brown (@thebakermama) have put together meals with leftovers, cold cuts of meat, slices of cheese, olives and raw vegetables like bell peppers, cucumbers and carrots. Different dips like hummus or guacamole, fruit, chocolate or granola bars can be added too, making the dish versatile. Girl dinner can be eaten at any time of the day and as a snack, not just in the evenings.
However, some people have raised concerns about whether the small quantity of food is healthy or not. For example, a clinical psychologist who studies body image and eating disorders due to social media, Chelsea Kronengold says, “There’s a social comparison factor where you’re seeing viral videos of what other girls are eating and then as someone watching this, especially young vulnerable girls, they're thinking, 'I should only be eating that amount too.” Kronengold’s quote was carried in an article published by USA Today titled What is a 'girl dinner' and why do we call it that anyway? on Monday.
