The baffling rise of 'girl dinner'

by Linda Holmes

Welcome!It was the week when they postponed the Emmys. It was the week when box office success brought renewed interest in the fact that Barbie will have lots of company. And it was the week when we remembered a great voice. Let's get to it.

Opening Argument

I am cognizant of the risks of dunking on TikTok trends. In general, TikTok trends that do me no harm are like pet rocks or mood rings: whatever floats your boat.

But I'm sorry, "girl dinner" is hilarious.

Roughly speaking, "girl dinner" is the concept of putting some food on your plate that you have and then eating it. Some nuts, maybe, some pickles, little raw vegetables, a little cheese, olives, a little cured meat if you feel fancy. In other words: food.

This is not a new idea. In fact, I tweeted a photo in 2019 of what you'd now call "girl dinner," only I captioned it "an assemblage of hankerings and leftovers." There were crisped chickpeas, some chicken and prosciutto, some tomatoes, a slice of bread with pesto, some pickled radishes, and a little dish of arugula salad. People in the replies who frequently eat this way enthusiastically referred to this as "bits and pieces" or — my favorite — "plate of things."

But nobody ever wrote in The New York Times about "plate of things."

Obviously, "girl dinner" is unnecessarily gendered; I'm sure plenty of men (and adult women) have enjoyed "plate of things" for ages. It has obvious similarities to things that have longer histories, like charcuterie or antipasto; you can find links between this kind of this-and-that eating and fondue or hotpot or ramen. I mean heck, put some lettuce under there and you're looking at a chef's salad. So why this? Why now? Why girl dinner?

Dinner: An assemblage of hankerings and leftovers.

Linda Holmes/NPR

It makes me wonder whether this trend arises from a desire to participate in food TikTok but a disinclination to cook. Let me be clear: If you want to participate in food TikTok by posting your plate of things, or your grilled cheese sandwich, or your smoothie? That is great. In no way should food TikTok be the exclusive playground of people who want to put things into a slow cooker or a skillet or an Instant Pot. And "plate of things" is actually a great meal, especially if you're a single person who ends up with a lot of random leftovers and you don't want to do a round of Chopped trying to figure out what to do with them. As I put it in a follow-up to my own photo, it's a great option when you have food but no ideas.

But it does seem like some things don't need hashtags. And they don't necessarily need overarching nutritional analysis, given that a "plate of things" made up of cheese, meat and Oreos would have little nutritional similarity to one made up of vegetables, nuts and olives. There was some chatter when Popeye's introduced a "girl dinner" made up of sides, but ... it was always possible to eat a meal made up of Popeye's sides. That they are sides is not really the issue. After all, if you order a much more traditional non-snacky "meal" from Popeye's, that's also not going to be what your doctor recommends.

In the end, if you like taking pictures of your food and it brings you joy, then I support you. Enjoy your plate of things. Your bits and pieces. Your assemblage of hankerings and leftovers! Congratulations, you're a cook.

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We Recommend

I had mixed feelings about the Max series Full Circle, but I have nothing but positive feelings about the great work Kathryn VanArendonk did at Vulture digging into why Dennis Quaid has a French braid in it.

Frequent PCHH panelist Chris Klimek is hosting a new podcast for Smithsonian magazine called There's More To That, which brings to bear the resources of the Smithsonian to look at history and the world. The first two episodes are about — what else? Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Laura Lippman's new book Prom Mom tells the story of a couple of high school kids who experience a tragedy and then encounter each other again many years later. I don't want to say too much more about it than that, but it both fascinated me and surprised me over and over.

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What We Did This Week

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in the new Christopher Nolan film Oppenheimer.

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Glen talked to Bilal Qureshi, Cate Young and Joelle Monique about Oppenheimer.

Stephen, Aisha and I also reunited with Bedatri D. Choudhury for a spoiler-filled follow-up to our Barbie episode.

Aisha, Cyrena Touros and Ronald Young, Jr. took on the sci-fi mystery They Cloned Tyrone.

Glen and Stephen were joined by Laura Sirikul to talk about Haunted Mansion.

What's Making Us Happy

Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are:

Laura Sirikul: Barbie
Glen: Praise Petey, on Freeform
Stephen: Remembering the music of Sinead O'Connor

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How to pick a bank that works for you 💸

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Life Kit — Tools to help you get it together.

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Are you happy with your bank? Maybe you haven’t considered it because it doesn’t feel like many other options exist. Or, maybe inertia has taken over. You’re happy enough and switching banks feels like life admin you don’t need on your plate.

I’m in the latter camp. I’m not unhappy or happy. My bank is just a place to store my money.

But Yanely Espinal says that outlook actually isn’t the most effective when it comes to banking. Espinal is the director of educational outreach at Next Gen Personal Finance and the author of Mind Your Money.

And she says whenever you open an account with a bank, you're not just saving your own money. "Think of it as a loan. You are lending your money to that credit union, to that bank, to that institution, to that app," says Espinal.

You’re not just passively putting your money somewhere — you’re letting that bank or credit union use your money. So it’s important to think through what you want to do with your money.

"I am a fan of trying to find institutions that align with what you're looking for and what you care most about," Espinal says.

Here are four different types of institutions and companies you can loan your money to:

HOW TO PICK A BANK

Major banks

The main benefit of a major bank like Chase or Citibank is that your money will be easy to access, says Espinal. "You can go to any ATM anywhere and use your major bank's debit card."

Your money is also insured at major banks through the federal government. FDIC insurance protects each customer up to $250,000 per account, per bank. "You can almost guarantee that if you're at a major bank, your account is FDIC insured," says Espinal.

Notably though, the federal government recently ordered Bank of America to pay more than $100 million to customers for illegally double-dipping on fees, withholding promised rewards and opening unauthorized accounts. The government has also enforced penalties on credit unions and fintech companies.

Credit unions and community banks

The goals and intentions of credit unions and major banks differ. Espinal says major banks are for-profit institutions with "their board members and shareholders" interests in mind.

In contrast, credit unions are not-for-profit organizations that are member-owned. Their primary responsibility is to their members."They're going to care the most about you, which means that they're going to lower the fees for you and offer you higher savings rates," says Espinal.

And like major banks, credit unions also protect each account up to $250,000 per bank, per customer through a different kind of insurance — the National Credit Union Administration or NCUA.

Espinal refers to community banks as somewhere between major banks and credit unions.

With a community bank, you'll get "more personalized service than what you may experience at a major bank," says Espinal. But you might miss out on some of the conveniences a major bank offers — like depositing checks via the bank's app.

That being said, you'll get many of the "same products and services that a major bank would offer," says Espinal, but with the customer service of a credit union.

Fintech banks

Espinal says that fintech banks (short for financial technology) are mobile-only banking options.

These banks don't have brick-and-mortar locations and generally market to a younger generation frustrated by the maintenance and overdraft fees that major banks often tack on, says Espinal.

The benefits of fintech banks include good mobile banking experiences and lower fees than major banks and sometimes credit unions, too. The risk with fintech banks is that they're new so they can struggle to maintain and raise capital, says Espinal. Also, fintech apps may or may not offer insurance. Sometimes a mobile-only bank will partner with a major FDIC-insured bank, though, says Espinal.

And you don’t have to pick just one of these institutions or banks. Espinal says to look into "diversifying where you put your money." She keeps her savings in a high-yield account with an online-only bank and uses a major bank for her checking account.

—Clare Marie Schneider, Life Kit editor and producer

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Your guide to thrifting

Photographs by Colin Bradley, Gosa Osayamen, Stephen Emery; Collage by Kaz Fantone/NPR

Whether you're interested in picking up shorts for the summer, shopping more sustainably or exploring your personal style, we have tips from longtime thrifters on how to up your thrifting game.

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