răbdări prăjite

Literally, “fried patiences”. First attested in the mid 19th century.

• IPA^(key): /rəbˈdərʲ prəˈʒi.te/

răbdări prăjite f pl (plural only)

1. (idiomatic, humorous) no food whatsoever
   • 1952, Zaharia Stancu, part 3, in Dulăii [The hounds], Bucharest: Editura de Stat pentru Literatură și Artă, page 275; previously serialised in Viața Românească, year 5, number 11, Bucharest, 1952 November, page 216:

     Acum mâncăm răbdări prăjite, că așa ne cere serviciul…

     Now we go hungry, since this is what our work demands of us…

     (literally, “now we eat fried patiences”)

• răbdare in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)
• Iorgu Iordan, Alexandru Graur, Ion Coteanu, editors (1975), “răbdare”, in Dicționarul Limbii Române‎, volume 9, Bucharest: Academy of the Socialist Republic of Romania, page 54