plant food

plant food (countable and uncountable, plural plant foods)

1. Commercially available nutrients intended to enhance the growth of plants, especially in gardens.

   Pour the nitrogen solution into the water and use it as plant food.

2. Food from plants.

   Coordinate term: animal food

   • 2010, Manjeshwar Shrinath Baliga, Jason Jerome D’Souza, Raghavendra Haniadka, Rajesh Arora, “Indian Vegetarian Diet and Cancer Prevention”, in Ronald Ross Watson, Victor R. Preedy, editors, Bioactive Foods and Extracts: Cancer Treatment and Prevention, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 68:

     Today, in India, vegetarians form a nonhomogenous group consisting of semivegetarians (plant food, dairy products, eggs, and fish), lacto-ovo vegetarians (plant food, dairy products, and eggs), and vegans (plant food only).

   • 2014, Carol J. Adams, Patti Breitman, Virginia Messina, Never Too Late to Go Vegan: The Over-50 Guide to Adopting and Thriving on a Plant-Based Diet, New York, N.Y.: The Experiment, LLC, →ISBN:

     You’ll see below, when we talk about health benefits associated with plant foods, that replacing one kind of animal food with another is not really the best route to better health.

   • 2016, Helen Buckland, Jacqui Keepin, WJEC GCSE Food and Nutrition, Hodder Education, →ISBN:

     Vegans (sometimes called strict vegetarians). They do not eat meat or fish, or any animal products at all. This means no milk, cheese or eggs. They will eat only plant food.