The baffling rise of 'girl dinner'

Plus: Sinead O'Connor, 'Haunted Mansion' and a twisty new novel

View this email online 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? 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. Newsletter continues after sponsor message 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. Listen to the Podcast Sponsor-Free Support your favorite pop culture junkies AND listen without sponsor interruptions with a subscription to Pop Culture Happy Hour+! Learn more and sign up at plus.npr.org/happy. Learn More What We Did This Week Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures 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 Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! 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