One of the most recent trends to take over Tik Tok is the “girl dinner” trend. The trend started as something funny, originally posted by user Olivia Maher on May 11, in which she also references it as “peasant dinner”, as it is a smaller portion and therefore more affordable. Her dinner was called an “aesthetically pleasing Lunchable” by the New York Times. But some people have taken “girl dinner” further with the “meal” only consisting of a drink or a simple block of cheese with a glass of wine. The whimsical trend needs to stop, as it has become a concerning way for people to aid and mask eating disorders and push stereotypes.
While some of the videos show plates of food full of various snack foods, some videos have some pretty sparse contents. Not everyone eats a balanced meal every time, because they’re human. But some of the “girl dinner” meals consist of barely any substance. Some other Tik Tok users have made this known, such as @siennabeluga who pointed out that “some of these ‘girl dinners’ look a little suspiciously low cal to me” and another anonymous user states, “some are olives and a piece of salami. Scary”.
While some might say it’s just a funny trend, this trend shows support for eating disorders, praising posters through “likes” for eating a minimal amount of food that could barely be considered healthy. Even some professionals have commented on the trend, including Vanessa Rissetto, a registered dietitian and CEO of Culina Health, who writes in Glamour News, “Eating only pickles for dinner, drinking Coke Zero as your meal — this trend can fall into the disordered eating territory, especially when it comes to people promoting and applauding it.” She further explains that eating like that is fine occasionally, but eating like that daily can cause some severe health issues, and many other users comment on how they would need way more food to fill them up then what has been shown in some of the videos. One anonymous user accurately states on Tik Tok, “Girl dinner more like ‘girl please go to the doctor; you have an ED’.”
Some people believe the main problem with this trend is simply the name, saying that the term “girl dinner” is gendered and can impose wrong standards mainly on female viewers. Dr. Jessica Saunders, an assistant professor of psychology at Ramapo College of New Jersey who specializes in body image and eating disorders, told Women’s Health News, “The target audience for much of TikTok are adolescent girls who might not understand what normal, intuitive eating is and might think, ‘This is what I’m supposed to eat for dinner’.” And only eating such small portions all the time can be detrimental to a person’s physical and mental health. One anonymous Tik Tok user said, “The term of ‘girl dinner’ [seems] very rooted in how girls ‘should’ be eating less.” If we really paying attention to the “girl” part in “girl dinner”, then we shouldn’t push the small portions within the trend, because that would result in the girls who watch the trend thinking that the small portions shown are what they should be eating daily.
Some say that any concern over this is an overreaction, saying that most of what we see in these videos isn’t the only thing the poster eats in a day, and that one simple small meal like that every once in a while instead of a balanced nutritional meal is just fine. However, the concern isn’t for the posters who eat more throughout the day or eat balanced nutritional meals on other occasions; it’s for the ones who do actually eat like that for every meal. The posts could trigger or seem a justification for girls who have eating disorders.
Overall, it’s a shame that what began as a funny and relatable trend turned into a way for people to normalize eating disorders and push stereotypes.
