Is #GirlDinner Hearty or Harmful?
Photo personnel: Isa Montes Source: Diego Acevedo
Have you ever gotten home and stared incessantly at your fridge, wondering: what do I make for dinner today? But then, you think: I’m so tired, I want something quick and easy. Maybe you decide to heat up some leftover pasta, put some grapes and shredded cheddar on a plate and grab some chips. Congratulations! You’ve made what TikTok has coined “girl dinner.”
Girl dinner is about making an untraditional meal solely for your own enjoyment. It is meant to be comforting and liberating, but has become problematic as creators use it to promote disordered eating. A trend meant to encourage women has turned into a trend of judgment and pitting women against each other.
Skinny models in magazines used to promote eating disorders, but now all you need to do is open social media. Our technology has evolved, but the problem has stayed the same.
From a plate of hashbrowns, ketchup, a chocolate cookie and a vape; wine glasses of macaroni with dino nugget toppers and french fries with vinegar, there’s so many unusual girl dinners across TikTok–some combinations a lot more appealing than others.
The hashtag #girldinner took over TikTok when users began to show off their unconventional and eclectic feasts. Users did this to empower others, specifically women, to focus on throwing together a meal that emphasizes ease and fun.
In a way, the trend fights against the entrenched gender norms of a housewife being in the kitchen, having to make elaborate meals to feed a whole family and clean up afterwards. Girl dinner deconstructs these traditional gender roles, focusing on simply getting food you enjoy into your stomach.
One misconception is that girl dinners are supposed to be small in quantity. For example, some girl dinners only include worrying portion sizes of fruit and cheese that are more of a snack than an actual meal. On the other hand, another TikTok user showcases her girl dinner–a plate of leftover pasta, beans, lettuce with some vinegar, chips, pickles, fruit, jerky and soda–representing girl dinner as a chaotic, large and unique mix of food items that don’t normally go together.
Some call out the content creators for perpetuating eating disorders and encourage the creators (and other viewers) to eat more. Yet, other commenters highlight that these small portions can be enough for a meal, as everyone has different needs.
Now, not everyone has the same eating habits; some people have dinner as their biggest of three meals, while others eat multiple times throughout the day. Small portion sizes could be perfectly healthy for some people. But TikTok creators bragging about how small their dinner is sets an expectation that others should be eating that little as well.
Some users partake in a diy rice krispie treat of butter, marshmallows and cereal for girl dinner. Loading yourself up with sugar for dinner is neither healthy nor something that exhibits healthy eating habits. This isn’t a girl dinner, this is a snack or treat.
Even worse, for some users, girl dinner constitutes nothing but a nap, skipping dinner altogether. While these TikToks are intended to be humorous, promoting ideas of prolonged fasting on a regular basis is not.
Videos like these flaunt the idea of dieting culture and encourage the thought: this is what I should eat to lose weight and be skinny like other girls. Whether intentional or not, the problem remains the same. These posts set unrealistic expectations for eating habits.
The bigger issue remains that social media enables–and often promotes–eating disorders, allowing irresponsible users to glorify unhealthy habits. As users, we need to doom scroll with a healthy dose of suspicion–don’t always believe what you see online.
Everyone has a different definition of girl dinner, but we need to focus on the empowering side of this trend that emphasizes a hearty, chaotic plate.