Last week, the internet went bananas over girl dinner — if you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s basically a cute, convenient, clean-out-the-fridge smorgasbord. Think bread, cheese, pickled things, raw fruits and veggies, leftover bits and bobs. Most of us are familiar with the concept, though perhaps under a different name. In my family, girl dinner is called “nibbles night.” It’s the ideal easy and delicious summer meal, with no cooking necessary. But all this girl dinner hullabaloo begs the question: What is boy dinner? TikTok has, of course, answered.
What is boy dinner?
According to TikToker @bryaninheelee “If you want to know what boy dinner is, go to your local supermarket at 6:30 and stand behind a single man and see what’s inside of his basket.” TikToker @catherineannchiang contrasts her cute and delicious-looking girl dinner with her boyfriend’s boy dinner (a steak, and only a steak), adding that “girl dinner is like, a curated little experience, you got different little vibes going on, and then boy dinner is like, how can I get the requisite amount of calories into my body in as simple a form as possible.”
Basically, boy dinner is characterized by frozen pizza, a whole single chicken breast on a fork, and an overall lack of variety. To further illustrate this point, let me tell you a little story. A few years ago, my family visited my brother when he was living on his own for the first time. We made a California Pizza Kitchen BBQ chicken pie for dinner (an A-tier frozen pizza, BTW). Upon pulling this deliciousness from the oven, we came to the realization that he did not own a pizza cutter. But he had a freezer full of frozen pizza, so how was this possible? “I just tear it up,” he shrugged.
What’s the difference between boy and girl dinner?
This illustrates the difference between boy dinner and girl dinner. Yes, both are affordable, and convenient and don’t require much cooking. Both could involve frozen pizza. But girl dinner slices up that pizza puts it on a cute plate with some nice sides, and maybe even lights a candle. Boy dinner eats that pizza in hand-torn pieces right off the pan, with no plates or sides necessary. To be clear, anyone can eat boy dinner, and anyone can eat girl dinner. I have certainly consumed both meals many a time, and I’d venture to say most college students can relate.
Both trends serve their own unique purpose –- girl dinner shows that a convenient, clean-out-the-fridge meal doesn’t have to be boring, and you can even turn it into a cute and curated experience. Boy dinner, on the other hand, shows that not every meal has to be cute and curated — sometimes you just gotta get some food in so you can have the energy to keep killing it at life, and hey, that can be delicious too.
And if you’re not feeling boy/girl dinner, there’s always kid lunch.