also: しょうぶメシ
pre-competition meal; good-luck meal
Colloquial term for a meal eaten before a competition, exam, or important event, often with the belief that it brings good luck or peak performance.
My pre-match meal is always katsudon.
On the morning of the exam, I ate udon as my good-luck meal.
Standard kanji spelling.
Variant with katakana メシ, common in casual writing.
Compound of 勝負 (shōbu, 'match, contest') and 飯 (meshi, 'meal'). The exact origin is uncertain, but it likely arose in sports or competitive contexts.