"She always eats meals taken from an inn."
Translation:Cô ấy luôn ăn cơm bụi.
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Plugged 'cơm bụi' and it came back with 'rice dust'. Sounds like a great expression - where did it come from? Does it refer to all meals eaten away from home or only a certain class of food vendor? Would a takeaway meal be included.
I don't think this is an expression I would want to use in the wrong place!
It probably comes from the fact that these meal stalls are on the sidewalk, so the "dust" is referring to the actual dustiness of the street right next to it.
I would say that as long as it is a meal consisting of steamed rice and a side dish (sometimes a soup is also included), which you buy at a cheap price in a small establishment, whether you eat at the stall or buy it in a styrofoam box to-go, it is considered cơm bụi. Nowadays, people don't use this as much. Instead, they use "cơm bình dân," which I would translate literally as "rice for the average person."
Tl;dr: A cheap rice meal on the road.
Beside cơm bụi, there is also du lịch bụi, cheap travelling, without tour guide.