Get out of the food court area: schoolgirls are afraid in shopping malls
A new trend has emerged among young people — food containers. This is the name given to schoolgirls who spend all their free time in the food court areas of shopping malls. They are known for their defiant behavior and shoot provocative videos for social networks. Eyewitnesses note that they loudly clarify relationships, conflict, can throw food and be rude to others. How to behave with aggressive teenagers, why young girls spend their lives at shopping center tables and whether food court girls will become skater girls — in the material of Izvestia.
Greetings from the nineties
The appearance of food containers stands out even against the background of a very diverse audience of shopping malls. Representatives of this trend dress mostly in the fashion of the late nineties and early noughties. This style is called Y2K, which is short for Year 2000 ("year two thousand"), Alexandra Levitina, an international fashion expert and image consultant, explained to Izvestia.
"In fashion, Y2K aesthetics combines several styles from about 1997 to 2004, from glamour to cyberfuturism and dark subcultures like cybergothics," says the expert. — It was an era when humanity entered the new millennium with mild anxiety, but also with delight. Fashion reflected a combination of technological optimism, ostentatious glamour and sporty chic (metallic, mini, sequins, logomania).
Fashionistas of this period preferred low-cut jeans, wore large platforms, and wore velour tracksuits not for sports, but "on the way out." Rhinestones and sequins got along with cartoon prints, acid tones and high-tech symbols. The style icons of that period were Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and members of the hip-hop group Destiny's Child. They set the tone through carpets and music videos, the Izvestia interlocutor recalls.
It is no coincidence that girls who spend their leisure time in food court areas are guided by Y2K. From the point of view of the psychology of visual choice, style is always a choice of identity, says Alexandra Levitina.
— Adolescence and adolescence is a period of active search for belonging to a group and ways to express oneself in public. In this context, the mall functions as a "social scene" and a place where a girl is seen and where she can be seen," explains the stylist.
Nowadays, the economic factor is also important: mass market and second-hand stores allow you to assemble a Y2K image with a minimal budget, the expert emphasizes. The accessibility of the style is one of the reasons for its sustainability among young people with a limited budget.
For those who love the fashion of the nineties, but would like to avoid vulgarity, from which teenagers are not always immune, the expert advises to leave one or two characteristic accents in the image. For example, jeans with a low fit should be combined with a laconic top, and a miniskirt should be worn with a voluminous, strict jacket.
— This is fundamentally different from the spontaneous redundancy of the noughties, when all the elements of style were combined in one image at the same time, — says the image consultant.
However, these tips will be useful to bold foodies later, when they go through the stages of adolescence and stop emphasizing their aggressive behavior in a relaxed style.
Adolescent aggression
Clinical psychologist Sergey Volkov calls adolescent aggression a normal period of development, but warns parents that in the absence of control and support, a child may exhibit deviant and even socially dangerous behavior. It is beneficial for modern teenagers to behave aggressively, brazenly and cruelly because they do not have any responsibility for such behavior. But legal "immunity" is not the main factor. Such aggressiveness, according to the expert, is also based on the fact that it is necessary to win the competition in order to become successful. It is difficult to do this because there is a lot of competition. And then the brain looks for alternatives to positive achievements, replacing them with negative actions.
— It's like if a child, for example, thinks: "If no one breaks the benches, then I will be the first and I will definitely succeed in this." And he gets satisfaction with the result of such actions: he is noticed, shown to everyone, actually set as an example, but this example is negative," says Sergey Volkov.
The brain doesn't care whether a person's photo is on the honor roll or on the wanted list, says a clinical psychologist. In both cases, the main organ is satisfied that the actions of its "master" have been noticed, chosen and celebrated.
— You have become different from others, and for the brain it means that you are better than others, — explains the expert.
Adolescents, due to the incomplete development of the frontal lobes of the brain, have neurologically poor control over rapid emotional reactions, the Izvestia interlocutor continues.
— Sometimes they even regret their rash actions. But neurology does not allow them not only to complete the action, but also to control the force with which they express anger or rage. Being hostages of their own nervous system, teenagers cannot stop when they begin to show aggression, they cannot control it and are unable to stop at will," emphasizes Sergey Volkov.
According to the expert, the aggressive behavior of girls is partly due to the fact that from early childhood they are taught that they should be inferior only because they are future women. But both educators and parents dispense with a philosophical or pedagogical explanation of why this is so.
— As a result, the child grows up with a sense of his own superiority over the world and the feeling that everyone owes him, they demonstrate behavior that goes beyond what is allowed, — the expert warns.
It has already been suggested that aggressive food vendors will eventually grow up to be the very dishwashers who use other people for their well-being. But the clinical psychologist notes that these are two completely different phenomena.
— Dishwashers are a social phenomenon generated by the desire to find a comfortable life and a partner, and they become food lovers out of desperation and the need to simply put themselves somewhere. Both physically and psychologically, says the clinical psychologist.
It is important to know what to do for ordinary people who find themselves in an aggressive teenage environment. First of all, you need to protect yourself. But it's better to do this without going overboard.
— The degree of aggression of teenagers can be very different. Remember that in the event of a direct conflict, the adult is always legally to blame. The best way to protect yourself is to leave and inform the security or police about what is happening. These people have the authority to call for order," recalls Sergey Volkov.
He does not see any other safe behaviors with aggressive teenagers. The expert also advises against shaming children or trying to explain something to them - this will cause even more negative reactions.
Separation through fast food
Sergey Volkov attributes the attraction to food court zones to the fact that teenagers at a certain point in time need their own space in the outside world, where they strive in every sense to get out of the family.
— This is a natural separation process, the stage of growing up, — says the expert. — But it's not enough to leave the family. There is always the question of where to go outside of it. The neurological mechanism of finding a safe space is triggered in the adolescent psyche. It should be convenient and preferably geographically isolated from other groups of teenagers. You can also live your own individual life there, not in front of adults.
Many people remember how teenagers chose entrances and heating pipes for communication, hung out in basements, sat on benches in courtyards and parks. Shopping malls have made leisure time for schoolchildren more convenient and safer, the clinical psychologist notes.
"The food courts are warm and bright, there is security in the shopping center, and all the main entertainment is nearby: fast food, vending machines, theme shops," the Izvestia interlocutor reminds. — Food court zones are free, unlike cafes, where you can't just sit, you have to order something. Meanwhile, shopping malls earn a lot of money on "little things" like chewing gum, coffee, or cups with popular characters.
Teenagers on food courts, although they seem to be "problematic" and even penniless visitors, actually bring a significant part of the profits of food outlets, the expert emphasizes.
— Shopping malls in big cities, especially in megacities, perform not just the function of a store or market — it is the main center of people's traffic. The more modern and technologically advanced a city is, the more its life depends on shopping malls," says Sergey Volkov.
From the point of view of psychology, food for a modern person is a fast, relatively cheap and affordable way to get joy. Meanwhile, doctors, teachers, and coaches attribute the inexorable weight gain typical of modern schoolchildren to the availability of fast food. According to Olga Vasyukova, head of the Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Metabolic Diseases and Obesity at the National Research Medical Center of Endocrinology of the Russian Ministry of Health, as of 2026, every third teenager in Russia has been diagnosed with obesity.
Yards and parks have been gradually emptying since the mid-noughties. Several generations of children have already grown up, whose parents do not often walk with their kids outdoors, considering going to the mall to be a full-fledged walk.
"People are so used to the convenient location of entertainment, goods and leisure in one place that any park, square or theater loses to a shopping center,— complains Sergey Volkov. — There are no more points of interest for teenagers on the street. In addition, for two decades teenagers and parents have been intimidated by the horrors of street crime, responsibility for non-fulfillment of parental duties, etc. Against the background of this pressure, shopping malls are becoming a pleasant and convenient alternative to any entertainment from the "old" world.
Modern teenagers are not interested, for example, like their grandfathers and dads, making fishing rods, digging worms and running with a bucket to the river, says a clinical psychologist. This is because there are many other pleasant entertainment options in shopping malls that can be accessed instantly and easily.
—And our brain always chooses quick pleasure over long—term prospects," the expert concludes.
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