There's nothing quite like a picky tea - a decadent buffet filled with all the foods you love most in the world. Enjoyed traditionally after events like birthdays and Christmas where there's an abundance of beige foods left over, or in summer when you just fancy some finger foods, picky teas really can be eaten whenever you feel like it.
From cut-up vegetables and hummus to sausage rolls, crisps, cut-up fruit on a platter, and leftover cake, there's usually a bunch of things to choose from. Our mouths are salivating at the thought.
But a new TikTok trend that has become popular over recent weeks has seen the picky tea renamed and repackaged into something completely different - and people are baffled. The beloved picky tea has been renamed 'girl dinner' - and Brits just are not having it, including popular TV chef Nigella Lawson.
Writer Tom Hillenbrand took to Twitter to share his horror at an "apparent" new TikTok trend. He wrote: "This is a TikTok trend, apparently - bread, cold cuts, cheese, raw veggies. Most Germans eat like this every evening. We call it Abendbrot." Nigella Lawson defensively quipped: "And we call them Picky Bits."
According to new research from Tesco, nearly all of the UK (97%) enjoys a picky bits tea at least once each summer, and almost a fifth (19%) consider it a tradition. And the most popular picky tea ingredients are crisps (44%), sandwiches (41%), and cheese (40%).
But TikTokers have tried to claim the "trend" as their own, with Olivia Maher showing her "girl dinner" on the social media site, likening it to something a peasant would have eaten in Medieval times. She showed her meal which consisted of bread, cheese, wine, grapes, and pickles. And of course, the platform has now been flooded full of others trying out the trend, with different takes on it - some opting for elaborate spreads, with others keeping it simple.
But someone on Twitter defended the trend, saying that a "girl dinner" is simply a picky tea for one person. They wrote: "The TikTok trend is for solo dinners which look like this. As kids we'd have a 'picky tea' when guests came over but we called it 'offer tea' because me and my sis would 'offer' around the different picky bit options for people to take and put on their plates."
Another waded in: "I love finger food/nibbly stuff/picky bits/whatever you want to call it", and someone else said they called it: "Bits n pieces", and someone joked: "This is posh picky tea. For proper picky tea, it should include Wotsits, a bit of a pork pie, a Dairylea triangle, and half a jacket potato."
And just how healthy is a picky tea (or whatever you want to call it)? Nutritionist Katherine Kofoed, posted a video on TikTok sharing that a 'girl dinner' is so satisfying because it contains a little bit of everything, satisfying "cravings" we may have. She said girl dinner has a variety of flavours and textures, and what you "desire" in there.
She said: "Having a girl dinner, which is basically a smorgasbord of all your favourite things is a really great way to satisfy all of those needs and feel satiated and nourished after eating. Which, by the way, is a huge predictor for not overeating later on."
In the comments, someone asked: "Is this not picky bits?", and Katherine replied: "Please tell me what picky bits is!" Another shared: "British mums often call this kinda combo of lil bits of food picky bits."
What do you call it? Let us know in the comments.
