Girl Dinner: Is This New Trend Harmful to Women’s Diets?

By: Amna Faheem

There is a new trend sweeping the nation and anyone who is on social media is quite familiar with it: “Girl Dinner.”

Girl dinner is “an aesthetically pleasing Lunchable: an artfully arranged pile of snacks that, when consumed in high enough volume, constitutes a meal,” according to The New York Times.  It is being consumed by many women and girls online, showing off an array of cut-up fruits, hummus, pretzels, and cheese and crackers. 

In simple terms, it’s a promotion of small bites and minimal food consumption while passing it off as a meal, which can normalize petite meals that lack proper nutrients and restrict food intake. 

The trend began in May when showrunner Olivia Maher, who was impacted by the Screen Actors- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike, posted a video of her plate with bread, butter, cheese, pickles, and grapes, creating the iconic TikTok sound, “Girl Dinner.” Maher’s video reached more than a million people and sparked a trend of women showing off their substitutions for typical dinners.

London-based food content creator, Alana Laverty, is a big supporter of the girl dinner trend and forms her meals around it. 

“When dinner came around, we would just pick up one main cheese or one main protein and get a fresh loaf of bread [...]. It's a really normal way of eating for me right now,” Laverty told the Times. Maher shares that her love for girl dinner comes from the fact that it’s quite effortless, and can feel like an indulgence. 

However, girl dinner can also be freeing, offering a way to step out of the confines that society places on women. It’s a way to relieve the pressure of cooking full meals daily and of taking care of partners; some find it to be a great method of self-care as it is a time dedicated solely to them and reduces the pressure of caring for others. 

The inclusion of the word “girl” in front of the word “dinner” creates an increased perception that women are supposed to eat very little food, or “dainty meals,” as stated by Food&Wine. It perpetuates stereotypes of women’s eating habits and how they are expected to make themselves small and strive to meet unfair expectations. 

The branding of a “Girl Dinner” as an inadequate meal, falling short of the recommended nutritional intake, is harmful. It creates an ideology that women should not — and do not — eat enough. It has the potential to influence younger audiences on social media platforms to develop an unhealthy and disordered relationship with food, causing them to believe that anything more than a cut-up apple and spoonful of cottage cheese on a colorful ceramic plate is an excessive amount of food. 

Why is it that such a potentially destructive trend is exclusively targeted towards girls, presented to be accepted as normal, and embraced with open arms? It disregards the potential damage it may cause and the triggers it can evoke in those who encounter it on their feed. 

Our society conditions women to consistently count calories, seek gluten-free substitutes, and replace things like chips and chocolate with kale chips and “healthy” alternatives; indulging is often stigmatized. 

The trend not only presents problems for women and younger girls but poses health concerns and an increased probability of developing unhealthy body images or an eating disorder. Girl dinner is another way diet culture has seeped into our society, this time coined with a catchy soundbite and a cute name. It drives home the idea that women need to eat less than men. 

An article published in Health Magazine incorporated the opinions of registered dietitians who expressed their concerns about the trend. They shared that the role of social media exacerbates the issue since it’s already an environment that can inadvertently promote, cause, or trigger eating disorders and disordered eating habits. Such a trend certainly doesn’t help with this problem and may unintentionally worsen it. A typical girl dinner is usually imbalanced and lacks sufficient calories, which can lead to a higher hunger drive and fatigue. 

Having first-hand experience with disordered eating and understanding the impact it has on one’s relationship with food and eating habits, I can say that “Girl Dinner” is far from an innocent trend; it’s detrimental to one’s mental and physical health. 

Our society already imposes unrealistic standards for women, subjecting them to insane pressure to conform to a certain ideal that only a small percentage of women can realistically achieve. It continuously seeks ways to undermine women, and “Girl Dinner” is the cherry on top. It conditions women to believe that smaller meals are better meals. It fosters an unhealthy relationship with meals, which, in turn, affects their perception of their bodies and their self-esteem.

Mackenzie Burgess, a registered dietitian nutritionist, suggested that a well-rounded dinner could include options like “hard-boiled eggs, chopped veggies, hummus, and a handful of nuts.” This combination would provide an appropriate dinner portion and meet the recommended calorie intake.