Do you like taking pictures of your food and showing them to people? I mean, who doesn't? It's fun and exciting to see people comment on your favorite meal.

Or, maybe, you want to mock how badly a certain restaurant made or presented your food. Either way, you know that when you post that picture you will get lots of feedback and comments.

The trend known as “Girl Dinner” has been rampant all over TikTok. It involves taking pictures of your meals and posting them.

It's fun to engage in a new trend that you can easily find with hashtags. Being a part of these trends can help users get more followers because a simple hashtag can easily find their content. It's an adrenaline rush, a natural high per se.

A Brief History Lesson:

This popular trend was started by TikTok user Olivia Maher, in May of 2023. The post was complemented by a video of her dinner, which was an assortment of cheese, bread, and grapes. She claimed that it was something a medieval peasant might eat. After the initial post, influencers of all ages and all follower counts took off with the idea.

The post pushed the boundaries of gender norms. In the past, women have been known to just make extravagant meals in the kitchen. However, now with this new trend, it's instituting the new norm that women can lazily make amazing food. Maher did so much when she posted this initial post.

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What is a “Girl Dinner?”

So what is this trend? “Girl dinner” is essentially anything you have left lying around: it can be leftovers, cheese, bread, or even just a few grapes. This combination of food scraps is supposed to be a meal for one person—sort of like a Lunchable style meal. Another way to look at this is just a combination of snacks aesthetically placed on a plate.

Although the trend started with small salads or a piece of bread, posts have slowly become more disturbing.

Not So innocent?

This seemingly harmless, funny trend has been spiraling out of control. Some users on TikTok have posted things that barely count as a snack for their “girl dinner.” Thinks like a glass of water or a whole block of cheese. This can cause issues for viewers who have eating disorders, even if the posts are meant as a joke. Some psychologists even think that these types of posts can be a cover for eating disorder habits since it's masked as a joke.

Negative Effects:

These posts are influencing younger girls who might not know what a normal dinner looks like. They may think that the food in those posts is what their dinner should look like. This is teaching girls to be restrictive with their eating habits, rather than to listen to what their body needs and wants.

A "girl dinner" is not something you should make for yourself every night; it's simply not healthy. Would you go out to eat fast food every night because it's quick and easy? No, because long-term, this dinner habit could lead to health complications.

The constant comparison of your plate to another person's plate can affect you negatively. Without meaning to, your brain will take over and you might start mimicking the habits you see.

“Girl dinner” has been firmly rooted in the idea that girls should be eating less. However, this is not what young girls or even older ones should be focusing on. These kinds of eating habits are not okay for any growing body. Just because something's trending, does not mean that it's necessarily good.

Those Opposed to the Negative Effects:

Some users believe that this new trend encourages good eating habits. They believe this because most of the posts, along with the initial one, included a variety of food. Not just one type and not fully junk food.

It's important to have a balance and this is also present in most of the posts. Especially the ones that are like adult Lunchables.

Healthy Ways to Join In:

You could post a healthy assortment of eggs, yogurt, peanut butter toast, and fruit for your "girl dinner". This will push the norms on the dinner part of the trend and could easily help you earn views. All because you were healthy and provided a colorful variety that can mostly appeal to everyone.

Ramen Noodles or instant noodles aren't always the healthiest but you can always add eggs or meat and cheese to your noodles instead of the provided seasoning. This will provide a very aesthetically pleasing meal for you and your followers.

Also, frozen waffles. Again not the healthiest option, but with some fruit and maybe a smoothie, your meal will be complete and very decadent.

To Join, or Not to Join?

Should you post about your “girl dinner” or should you just keep it to yourself?

I think that if you are posting about a positive meal that you have made or eaten that isn't an insanely small portion size, you should post it. If other users might find it disturbing or concerning, maybe don't post it.

Try asking 3 individuals closest to you: a family member or guardian, a friend, and someone else of your choosing. If the consensus is negative, don't post it. If it's positive, go right ahead and share it with the world. The people closest to you may have a better idea of what is good for you to be posting and what causes red flags to shoot up about your actions or the post itself.

Remember to be true to yourself and eat what your body wants you to eat. There is no shame in that, even if it's not what is in trend.