In the world of online trends that promise to tell you how much and how deep your partner’s love is, there’s a new ‘litmus test’— the orange peel theory. Now you may say ‘what the fruit!’ What has peeling oranges got to do with love? According to Twitter and TikTok, everything. It’s just a small act of service. And that’s what makes it so sweet. Or sour, if these little gestures are missing in your relationship.
The test is simple — you ask your partner if they would peel an orange for you, and their reaction tells you how they view you and the relationship. People are posting videos of everything from their partners’ funny reactions to sharing their own version of the orange peel theory to denote what their partners’ small acts of service meant to them.
It’s one of the many such ‘tests’ TikTok has masterminded. There’s the Bird Test—checking if your partner will look at a bird if you point to it, to see if they share your interests—or the Beckham test—where you play a song and see if your partner will spontaneously dance with you. Most of these are nothing more than exaggerated jokes on social media that can’t actually judge the strength of a relationship. But the ‘orange peel’ theory might just be a winner. It represents a much deeper emotion of care, acts of service, and the mundanity that makes a relationship last in the long term.
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It’s not just about oranges
Many would argue that asking someone to peel an orange is ‘just the bare minimum.’ How does it indicate whether your relationship is healthy or not?
Peeling an orange indicates a willingness to bear a small inconvenience to make your partner happy. Isn’t that what love is all about? It’s a much simpler way to gauge love than the sea of online tests that look like lengthy corporate surveys and more straightforward than the ‘advice’ doled out by magazines like Cosmopolitan.
The orange peel theory overturns the idea that love needs to be made with grand gestures and loud proclamations of affection. Sometimes what sustains a relationship is not constant affirmation, which is both unhealthy and impossible to expect from anyone, but these seemingly mundane actions. The love associated with peeling an orange is the same one associated with cooking for someone, ironing their clothes, or bringing them a hot beverage. It is an act that directly conveys care and empathy that many might talk about but few practise.
At the same time, it brings to the fore certain practices that we might just take for granted in our relationships. Caregiving is often associated with women, but for a relationship to succeed, it’s something that both parties must practice. The orange peel theory doesn’t attribute any gender norms to the test, thus pushing the narrative that caregiving and receiving are expectations that everyone in a relationship is entitled to.
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Is it foolproof?
Of course, the orange peel theory isn’t a test validated by the scientific method. I don’t guarantee that anyone who peels oranges for you is the perfect partner for you. But the basis of the test is care, and I think that is a pretty valid benchmark.
Modern relationships meander too much in the ‘red flag’/’green flag’ zone where everything from someone’s social media bio to their dog’s name is judged for compatibility. The orange peel theory moves away from these frivolous compatibility tests to ground relationships in something meaningful.
Is it the final test for all relationships? No, of course not. But until we find that one perfect Tiktok trend to give relationship counsellors a run for their money, the orange peel theory works as a good stand-in. Move away from red flags, look for oranges.
Views are personal.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)