The past year has marked the rise of a global phenomenon: the 'girlification' era. Join us as we explore the impact and implications of this cultural shift and what it means for society.

Note for the last of y'all with zero social media presence: the term "girl dinner" refers to a popular online trend about women eating random snacks instead of what is assumed to be a conventional meal.

While it would offer us a chance to critique the ongoing romanticisation of female eating disorders and modern lifestyle damaging to our wellbeing, we are not going there today. Instead, we reclaim this term and make it serve for our – and your – comfort.

Lazily crafted for the fierce souls that saunter through the earth, girl dinner delights in a diet of pickles, perfume, literature, song, cheese… and anything we can catch with our greedy hands. We see girl dinner less as a snack, and more as a smorgasbord of morsels to satisfy all five tastes.

The amount should be tailored to your appetite, based on your needs, and it should resonate with your very soul. All of that makes it so that this unique experience is best to be conducted alone. Here, some of our writers came together to share their visions of girl dinner.

A post-modern sleaze's interpretation

Girl dinner… a magnificent little treat to indulge in one of my many personas and a chance to decorate life with romance.

Here is a personal recipe of mine to create a girl's dinner: one should sit in a candlelit space, ideally in a Haussmannian or historical building decorated with antiques – accompanied by songs of memory that resonate within you, as well as some literature from the past.

Anaïs Nin, Sylvia Plath, Françoise Sagan and Dorothy Parker are among my favourites, whose words reveal many truths – such as the exquisite agony of loving love itself, as to love in reality is always insufferably painful. Sometimes these tales can be melancholic, other times they can be full of spite and deep-rooted anger, and perhaps hope too.

As for the food itself, it is a sacred and exciting rite to lovingly devour random titbits of bits and bobs that your heart desires. For myself, this often includes chocolate, bread, cheesy triangular corn crisps (or chips) and raspberries, whilst enjoying water from Saint-Galmier served in a vintage wine glass. Truthfully, I believe a girl's dinner is beyond sustenance – it is about healing, love and being in the moment.

– Jo Yi

RTL

© Roux Magazine

Just a taste of my inner indecisiveness

For me, girl dinner is the freedom of not having to choose, a moment in my life where I don't have to make a decision. I tend to feel overwhelmed by the countless options that I have, by all the possible ways to explore. It feels like I can never make the right choice, as if there was always a better alternative that I could have chosen.

But at a girl dinner I don't have to decide in favour of one thing that I love. I can simply eat a little bit of everything and combine whatever I want without fear of judgement for any unique combinations – after all, it's just me, myself, and I. Mostly I enjoy starting with some houmous, and at one point I will just dip whatever I fancy into the houmous. And for real, have you ever tried raspberry on houmous?

For me, it is a moment when I let go of all social conventions, freeing myself from any expectations and letting myself be. By doing so, I am able to listen and follow my inner voice. Having my own sovereignty, without having to adhere to any rules and to go with the flow, is very empowering.

And maybe I just end up dancing through the kitchen with houmous in one hand and raspberries in the other. Girl dinners are freedom of choice and expectations and bring me one step closer to finding inner peace.

– Auriane

Original sin or smth

When I think about girl dinner, my mind draws images from 1966 Czech New Wave movie "Daisies". Following the hedonistic pursuit of two young women, both named Maries, the infamous film shows them behaving promiscuously, fooling men and indulging in gluttony. "If the world is spoilt, so must we become"– say Maries when the movie starts, and taste the apple from the fruit tree, beginning their glamorous journey of self-destruction.

Tracing this allegory to the lush garden of Eden, shall we say an apple was the original girl dinner – a story and a fruit that kickstarted gastronomic gender division? A homage to mythical women and goddesses, I find apples and almond nuts (in sufficient quantity!) a perfect dinner that is nutritious both for my body and soul. Another thing I always have in my fridge is cheese, so add this to the plate.

Likewise, I'm with Auriane on houmous (I put it together with the salad) and with Jo Yi on the candles (take care to not set off your dorm's fire alarm). I enjoy using vintage Villeroy&Boch hand-painted plates I thrifted, which turn anything I put on them into a work of art.

The main lessons to take from the trend : (i) don't punish yourself if you don’t have time and energy to be a good housewife; (ii) everything tastes better when romanticised.

– Kristina