157 / 308
飯テロ meshi tero
Posting food photos at midnight.
What does meshi tero mean?
A hostile act carried out with a bowl of ramen and good lighting. The victim is anyone scrolling in bed with nothing in the fridge.
Example
深夜にラーメンの写真送ってくるの、完全に飯テロ。
Sending ramen photos at midnight is straight-up food terrorism.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Friends only Casual. Natural with friends, out of place at work or with strangers.
Culture note
Late-night TV cooking segments are considered repeat offenders, and some shows now lean into the accusation on purpose.
The story behind meshi tero
飯 is a meal and テロ is terrorism, which tells you how seriously the accusation is meant. 飯テロ is posting food at the hour when nobody can act on it, and the crime is always aggravated by good lighting. The suffix turned out to be productive: Japanese now has a family of テロ for harmless acts performed at maximum inconvenience.
Late-night television is the repeat offender, since a genre of programme exists specifically to show grilled meat after midnight, and the makers know what they are doing. Online it spread with photo culture in the 2010s. The correct response is a wounded reply, then an order.
Get meshi tero in your pocket
飯テロ is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
