食烟火 - Chinese Idiom

食烟火

Literally means:

lead mundane life

Actually means:

be subject to worldly worries and concerns

食 means eating. 烟火 refers to the fire for cooking or smoke from chimney when cooking, and here it refers to cooked food.

This phrase means leading a human life during which one is not free of worldly cares and has to be concerned about mundane affairs. It is from the phrase 不食人间烟火, which literally refers to those immortals who do not have to depend on the cooked food to survive. This phrase metaphorically means that one is very proud and cannot get one well with ordinary people, or that one is above the material attraction of the world and show no concern for mundane affairs.

食，吃。烟火，烧饭烧菜用的炉火和炉子冒出的烟，借指用熟食或食物。

食烟火，指过的是人间的生活，而不是生活在脱离现实的仙境，无法回避世俗事务。来自“不食人间烟火”，原指神仙和修道的人可以不吃人间的熟食，后来比喻做人很清高，和普通人合不来，或比喻过着脱离人间的生活，远离世俗的一切。