“Jia Lai Zhi Shi” comes from “The Book of Rites·Tan Gong Xia”, which originally meant to pity people who were hungry and call them to come for food. Later, it often referred to insulting alms and wealth obtained by improper means.
《嗟来之食》出自《礼记·檀弓下》，原指悯人饥饿，呼其来食，后多指侮辱性的施舍和用不正当的手段获得的财富。
《嗟来之食》
齐大饥。黔敖为食于路，以待饿者而食之。良久，有饿者，蒙袂辑屦，贸贸然来。黔敖左奉食，右执饮，曰：“嗟！来食！”扬其目而视之，曰：“予唯不食嗟来之食，以至于斯也！”从而谢焉，终不食而死。曾子闻之，曰：“微与！其嗟也可去，其谢也可食。”
Holla, Come and Eat!
There was a severe famine in Qi. Qian Ao had food ready at the roadside for the starvelings to eat. A famished man appeared staggeringly, covered his face with the sleeve because of shame, his shoes flapping. He was halted by Qian Ao, who held food in his left hand and drink in the right, saying: “Holla, come, you.” The man raised his eyes and looked at him. “I have become thus only because I don’t want to eat anything given in such a manner,” he said. So Qian Ao made an immediate apology to him for not being so polite at first, but still the man refused to take any food and died with hunger at last. On hearing this, Zengzi said: “It’s a pity for him to do so. He might have gone away when offered food as alms, but he should have eaten when apologized.”
