Did you know that a glass of Coke Zero could be considered dinner? No, this isn’t the 90s, and we aren’t hearing what a supermodel has for dinner.
It is 2023 and our youngest and supposedly most woke generation of women are sharing what they have for dinner – and some examples look more like snacks for toddlers than meals meant for adult women.
TikTok’s latest dinner sharing trend has been dubbed ‘Girl Dinners’, and it has taken over the social media app.
Young women are showcasing their “ideal” go-to dinners. In theory, the trend is a funny look at the rogue eating habits of women and the videos of TikTok users simply sharing what they eat have racked up millions of views.
One user shared that she’ll eat plain pasta cooked with oil and add cheese for a lazy girl dinner.
Another shared that she’ll treat herself to a large popcorn and wash it down with a soft drink when no one is around.
It was all in good fun, and there was even a jingle to accompany the videos women made of them eating their quirky dinners, but then things took a turn and the food sharing started to become problematic.
Suddenly it wasn’t just women sharing what they eat in secret, but women showing how little they eat for dinner.
One young woman shared that she only ate canned corn for dinner, and another user revealed that her girl dinner consisted of just a glass of coke zero.
It went from an interesting insight into weird food combinations women secretly love to women appearing to show off their almost non-existent “meals”.
What is most revealing is the reception to the user’s confessions. Young women aren’t commenting with concern that someone could think a glass of soft drink could ever be a sufficient dinner. Instead, they are celebrating it.
“Relatable,” one commented.
“Real,” another praised.
“Realest,” another wrote.
Similarly, when a user Lilianna Wilde shared they had a habit of eating pickles for dinner, yes, pickles and only pickles. Young women were loving it, actually one even admitted she was envious.
“I have a pickle dinner at least twice a week,” someone wrote.
“This is elite,” another noted.
“This sounds so good,” someone else praised.
“It is hard to see other people living your dream,” another announced.
At the least Wilde did suggest a cheese cake option for dessert.
What is going on! Where are the hungry girls?
Things have gotten so dire that a user that has amassed over 50,000 likes shared her girl dinner consisted of a glass of frozen ice cubes.
It would have been more direct if she just said she ate air instead of food for dinner.
Nutritionist Nicole Frost said that trends like girl dinner can often contribute to normalising disordered eating.
“Unfortunately, these types of trends normalise and add to the already misinformed diet culture,” she told news.com.au.
Frost also explained that sharing meals that lack any nutritional value and celebrating them can be misleading for young women.
“Women and teen girls require a balance of all three macronutrients consisting of quality protein, complex carbs and a healthy fat for breakfast, lunch and dinner,” she said.
In fact, Frost explained that women need plenty of food fuel to function at their best and a glass of coke doesn’t cut it.
“The female body is incredible and needs loads of energy, nutrients, vitamins, and minerals from whole foods to be able to produce hormones, have good brain function and mental clarity and a zest for life.”
Plus nutritionist Amelia Phillips pointed out that the issue with the girl dinner trend is actually all the name.
“The word ‘girl’ implies a smaller portion,” she pointed out.
Phillips made it clear that even after just a scroll on TikTok she could already see a huge problem with the trend.
“The food choices are mostly highly processed, not nutritionally balanced, they are gender biased, lack credibility and have the potential to insight disordered eating patterns in this young demographic,” she said.
Girl dinners might just seem like a fun trend on TikTok but if Gen Z are what they eat, well, then they are diet culture personified.