noun
first meal with meat/fish after abstinence
Refers to the first meal containing meat or fish eaten after a period of religious dietary abstinence (精進). Often used in Buddhist contexts.
精進落ちの膳には、久しぶりの魚が並んでいた。
On the tray for the first meal after abstinence, there was fish for the first time in a long while.
精進 refers to the period of abstinence itself, while 精進落ち is the meal that breaks that abstinence.
Compound of 精進 (shōjin, 'religious abstinence') and 落ち (ochi, 'falling' or 'ending'), literally 'the end of abstinence'.