vegetarian diet; vegetarian food
Archaic term for a vegetarian diet or food; in modern Japanese, 菜食 (さいしょく) or 精進料理 (しょうじんりょうり) are more common.
In old documents, 蔬食 refers to a diet that avoids meat.
The exact derivation is uncertain; the kanji 蔬 means 'vegetable' and 食 means 'food/eating', forming a compound for a vegetable-based diet.