Echoes the proverb
咬得菜根，
百事可做 — "a man who can chew through vegetable roots can do anything" — popularised by the late-Ming book 《
菜根谭》 (Caigentan, Discourse on Vegetable Roots, c. 1590) by Hong Yingming. Hence the widespread use of
菜根香 as a name for vegetarian and Buddhist-style restaurants.
