What is a 'girl dinner' and why does a nutritionist give it a thumbs up?

Preparing meals can be tedious at times, especially when you’re tired and too hungry to wait for it to cook.

Enter the “girl dinner” — a plate or bowl filled with a variety of snacks and finger foods to make a meal.

The trend has gone viral on TikTok, with the hashtag #girldinner garnering over 11.8 million views. According to In The Know, the “concept began to go viral after Olivia Maher posted a video of her eating bread, cheese, grapes, apples and small pickles.”

Dozens of other Tiktok users began posting their own mishmash meals, including Alea Laura.

One of the over 1.7 million people who have viewed her post was nutritionist Katherine Kofoed, who made her own post on how the trend is not only nutritious, but also satisfying.

After giving a thumb’s up to that post, Kofoed points out many people think about getting enough protein, veggies and other meal aspects, but not about their senses.

“We are very rarely thinking about our five different senses of taste and making sure that all of our satiety needs are being satisfied in meals,” she said.

“Having a girl dinner, which is basically a smorgasbord of all your favorite things, is a really great way to satisfy all of those needs,” Kofoed added.

Although many have posted how they’ve been eating like this for a while without knowing it was a trend, others aren’t so on board with these meals.

“(I) envy those that can get full off a lil snack plate. I would need about 17 of them to be full. #girldinner #foryoupage #fyp,” Nicki Cox posted.

And with no cooking required, the girl dinner can be a great way to satisfy your cravings and fulfill your nutritional needs without heating up your house.

Tribune News Service