We’ve all had those days where the thought of cooking after everything else fills us with dread. You’ve been busy with kids, work, school, or other tasks, and you just don’t have the energy to Stepford-Wife a large and nutritious meal. The solution? Girl Dinner.

The “Girl Dinner” trend has been going around on TikTok and other social media as a fun way to get around cooking, but it has also invited controversy. Is “Girl Dinner” an innocent trend, or should it be counted among the many other harmful trends we see come from TikTok?

What is Girl Dinner?

“Girl Dinner” is a light meal made like a snack plate or mini charcuterie board. The trend started in 2023 when TikToker Olivia Maher showed her viewers what she was having for dinner. Her plate had only bread, cheese, pickles, and grapes. She called it her “Girl Dinner” or “Medieval Peasant Dinner.”

Maher’s fans ran with the idea, causing the term “Girl Dinner” to go viral. Apparently, “Medieval Peasant Dinner” wasn’t as catchy. Soon, women all over the internet were sharing pictures and videos of their snackish meals, with various degrees of creative liberties taken when it came to the items on their plates.

Why All the Hype?

The idea of snacks as a meal doesn’t seem revolutionary enough to explain their popularity. But Girl Dinner is more than just being lazy and not cooking. For many women, Girl Dinner lightened the mental load they carry.

Women are often still expected to do most, if not all, of the domestic labor. It can be stressful to wear a chef’s hat among all the others women are expected to don. Girl Dinner gave women a way to see that they’re not failing if they take time for themselves. It’s a nice reminder, especially on social media, that nobody’s perfect, and we’re not alone in needing a break sometimes.

What’s the Controversy Surrounding Girl Dinner?

There are two major criticisms of Girl Dinner: the connotations of the gendered name and the health risks of not getting enough nutrients. The latter is easily remedied—just ensure that your plate has a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and healthy fats. And making sure that Girl Dinner doesn’t become an everyday “Girl Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.”

Some critics of Girl Dinner take issue with the name, believing that it plays into stereotypes that women don’t eat much. Merlyn Miller of Food & Wine worries that it isn’t clear whether this trend is “funny and cute, or if we really are buying into the idea that a woman would eat 12 raisins and a piece of salami for dinner.”

Is the Girl Dinner Trend Problematic?

As with all things, moderation is the key ingredient. Eating only small snacks or junk food every time you’re hungry will damage your health just as eating too much heavy food will. Girl Dinner in itself is not unhealthy or harmful, and it can even be helpful for people with disabilities or sensory issues who struggle to cook.

If the name “Girl Dinner” is the most offensive part of this trend, it should be noted that everyone, regardless of gender, can have a light meal instead of cooking. The name does make it feel like a gendered issue—like pink razors or flowery deodorant scents—so maybe we should go with a more gender-neutral name. Let’s bring back the name “Medieval Dinner,” and just leave out the “peasant” part. Fruit and cheese plates were for the wealthy anyway.

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