Rise of the Girl Dinner: TikTok trend sees women share snack plates they enjoy eating as a meal

The ‘girl dinner’ TikTok trend has blown up on social media – with women sharing their artfully-arranged snacks they enjoy eating as a meal when their boyfriends aren’t around.

The trend, which thousands of women across the world have participated in, shows off the bizarre assortment of snacks put together in mere minutes to create a meze-like ‘girl dinner.’

Women have posted their plates of cold cut meats, cheese, pickles, olives, nuts, and other small snacking bites to create one coherent meal for dinner during the warm summer months. 

Users say that it’s their idea of a perfect meal when their boyfriends aren’t around, or if they’re short on time to cook a proper meal. 

Los Angeles-based Olivia Maher, who coined the term, posted a video on TikTok speaking about how her ‘girl dinner’ was inspired by a humble assortment of snacks that a medieval peasant may have consumed

Critics have said that what the women are heralding as their revolutionary ‘girl dinners,’ are simply just elevated tapas or charcuterie board served for one.

But that has not stopped the lighthearted trend booming on social media.  

Los Angeles-based Olivia Maher, who coined the term, posted a video on TikTok speaking about how her ‘girl dinner’ was inspired by a humble assortment of snacks that a medieval peasant may have consumed. 

The 28-year-old told the NYTimes: ‘I think the concept of girl dinner came to me while I was on a hot girl walk with another female friend of mine.

‘We love eating that way, and it feels like such a girl dinner because we do it when our boyfriends aren’t around and we don’t have to have what’s a ‘typical dinner’ — essentially, with a protein and a veggie and a starch.’

A hot girl walk – another Gen Z term that’s caught on – is simply a walk where someone focuses on their wellness and surroundings to become the best, most elevated version of themselves.  

One girl dinner includes grapes, cheese, bread, and pickles

Boys have also got involved – showing their equivalent. One man tells the camera: ‘This is my meal, I call it boy dinner’ before panning around a rubbish-filled messy bedroom, pulling back his bedsheets to reveal a half eaten box of Dominos pizza

The ‘girl dinner’ fad blew up online after Maher posted a 15-second clip showing her array of snacks – including salami, cheese, and bread – with the words: ‘I call this girl dinner.’

Videos under the hashtag girl dinner have been viewed a staggering 66.9million times. 

Girl dinner plates include items such as crackers, grapes, popcorn, tomatoes, and tinned fish. Some are assembled together on a dish, while other people opt to just chaotically have all the items open on a counter. 

Other people have jumped on the trend and taken on their own alternative spin – showing shots of alcohol and colorful vape pens – and calling it their ‘girl dinner.’ 

And boys have also got involved – showing their equivalent. 

One man tells the camera: ‘This is my meal, I call it boy dinner’ before panning around a rubbish-filled messy bedroom, pulling back his bedsheets to reveal a half eaten box of Dominos pizza.