Expert speaks out about dark side of 'chicken and chips' trend

If you've found yourself on the UK side of FoodTok recently, the chances are you'll have stumbled upon what is being dubbed the 'chicken and chips controversy'.

For anyone who isn't yet in the know of the social media trend that has boomed on TikTok, it's quite the layered situation to wrap your head around.

It all started when one TikToker went viral for claiming in a video that 'seeing a girl eat chicken and chips is not normal', and it didn't take long for a flurry of other men to hop on board with him and agree, claiming in the comments and their own videos that something as innocuous as a woman daring to be so brave and order chicken and chips from her local fast-food joint is 'unfeminine', 'too masculine', 'unladylike' and an 'ick'.

Other examples of comments which seem to be ricocheting all over the shop include b*llocks like 'no wonder girls can’t find boyfriends' or 'men don’t want women who eat like that'.

But, with that said, it's also important to note that a load of men, along with heaps of women, are calling out the idiocy of the new trend.

However, beyond what would appear on first glance to be just sheer silliness, provocative ragebait or just a matter of chronically online behaviour, it's clear that the 'chicken and chips' discourse goes far deeper than an internet joke - it's extremely political.

The history of the chicken shop

Now, if you live in Old Blighty, you'll know just how embedded into metropolitan culture the humble chicken shop is - a stalwart to any high street offering up an escape from the cold, a post-school snack, a drunken stomach-liner and some very cheap meat.

Take London, for example.

It feels like no matter how many 'natty wine' bars, speciality coffee shops and conceptual small plates restaurants crop up in the Big Smoke, chicken shops remain defiant in their resistance by selling the finger-licking foodstuff to a city that quite literally can't get enough.

According to Meaningful Vision, chicken shops led the growth in store numbers during 2024, outpacing all other fast-food segments by nearly 12 percent, with London accounting for 21 percent of new openings.

"Chicken shops are more than a part of London—they are London," writes poet and essayist Bridget Minamore, for VICE. "Or at least, they’re London for the people who never have and never will identify with the glossy new-build flats and overpriced themed cafes that the city seems to be drowning in at the moment.

"For many born-and-bred Londoners, particularly those of us who are black or brown, chicken shops are more than a place to eat cheap food.

"Scattered around the city, your local chicken shop symbolises everything from your ends (Morley’s in South London, Sam’s in North) to the people in your community. The chicken shop is a place many Londoners have very strong feelings about."

A pecking order

Now, for years, men have found ways to police women's behaviour.

Whether we're talking about reproductive freedom, sexual liberty, narrow and ever-changing beauty standards or even our literal body measurements (I'm looking at you 36-24-36) - women are no strangers to those of the 'manosphere' attempting to control how they live their lives.

But this new trend takes things that one step further, echoing beyond dated cultural stereotypes we haven't seen since the diet-culture-soaked early 2000s which brought with it the Special K diet, the 30-day Ab Challenge, the boom of juice cleanses and, of course, Kate Moss' 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' quote which was seemingly cemented on every teen girl's Tumblr account during their developmental years.

An impeckable take

Lived experiences are one thing, but we reckoned we'd slingshot the discourse from the colloquial to the academic, hence why we sat down with psychologist Dannielle Haig to get her expertise on the phenomenon, and it's clear she's not clucking around.

"Let’s be honest, nobody’s actually outraged about fried food.

"What’s being policed here isn’t the meal, it’s female appetite," she explains. "Whether it’s food, pleasure, space, or attention, society still gets twitchy when women show they have an appetite for anything beyond what’s 'acceptable'."

According to Dannielle, every few months, we see the same old panic repackaged in a new way; that a woman who enjoys something too openly, too confidently, or too messily is somehow unfeminine.

Sexism, rebranded

"The 'chicken and chips ick' is just the latest costume for a centuries-old anxiety, that women should be small, contained, and palatable, even in their desires," she points out.

From a psychological perspective, Dannielle says this whole thing is about control and conformity.

She notes that eating has always been one of the earliest ways society teaches women to self-regulate.

"A man eating with both hands is assertive, primal, or a sign of appetite and confidence," she says, while a woman doing the same thing is 'too much,' 'unladylike,' or 'unattractive'.

Dannielle outlines: "This isn’t about manners; it’s about conditioning. We reward women for restraint and we shame them for indulgence.

"For centuries, this has been society’s neat little trick, making women complicit in their own containment by turning natural human behaviour into a moral issue."

The plot chickens...

But, according to the psychologist, the roots of this go way deeper than just surface-level diet culture.

Dannielle says: "For generations, women have been told their worth lies in how much they can not want, smaller portions, smaller bodies, smaller voices.

"The messaging is clear; the less you take up, the more you’re worth.

"So when a woman unapologetically eats chicken and chips (messy, greasy, joyful), it’s not trivial. It’s symbolic. It’s her rejecting the unspoken rule that her desirability depends on her denial. It’s her saying, 'I’m not here to shrink for you'."

Perfectly-seasoned push back

And that's been exactly the case in real-time as many women, and men, have rushed in to call out the trend with one Twitter user questioning: "Why they over on TikTok saying women can’t eat chicken & chips????"

A second lamented: "Us girls can’t have nothing man, we can’t eat chicken and chips, we can’t ride bikes with no hands & now we can’t poo at our boyfriend's house. You man are strict omd."

"Men on TikTok: ladies eating chicken and chips is very unladylike. Me: [chips emoji] [chicken emoji]," joked a third, while a fourth chimed in: "I can’t believe this whole girls eating chicken and chips discourse was a thing."

"Just found out girls eating chicken and chips is a turn off!" exclaimed a fifth, while a sixth slammed: "Why am I seeing guys say girls can’t be eating chicken and chips in front of them. Can’t even enjoy my chicken and chips in peace."

Another hit out: "UK is actually a simulation. Wdym I can’t eat chicken and chips in front of my boyfriend."

Biting back

Dannielle explains that social media has simply made such a tension visible in real time.

"TikTok and Twitter have turned these micro-moments into cultural flashpoints, but what’s fascinating is how women are reclaiming them," she praises. "Biting into a drumstick has somehow become an act of quiet rebellion, rejecting the performance of perfect femininity and embracing something far more real.

"It’s the anti-filter moment which is confident, unpolished, and deliciously human."

Ultimately, Dannielle says, this was never about fast-food - it’s about fast judgment.

"The real 'ick' isn’t women eating chicken and chips; it’s the reflexive urge to criticise any woman who doesn’t play by the unspoken rules of femininity. That’s what’s truly unappetising: watching the same tired narratives about what women should be served up, again and again," she concludes.

Yep, sounds about right.