Good news for gluten-free Jews--your pizza problem is solved :)
The problem with standard pizza is that there are (at least) two opinions regarding which b'rachot (blessings) to recite before and after eating it:
- Pizza crust is a form of bread. Therefore, one must (a) do n'tilat yadayim (a ritual hand-washing [over already-clean hands] accompanied by a b'rachah/blessing), (b) make a motzi (recite the b'rachah praising G-d for bread), and (c) recite Birkat HaMazon/Grace After Meals.
- Though pizza crust is a form of bread, a single slice of pizza is considered a snack, not a meal. Therefore, a person who eats only a single slice of pizza must say the "m'zonot" b'rachah (recited over wheat, rye, barley, spelt and oat products that are not bread), followed, after munching, by the "al ha-michya" b'rachah, which is much shorter than Birkat HaMazon. However, if a person eats two or more slices of pizza, which is considered a meal, the "bread" b'rachot must be recited (see # 1). That said, if a person has a smaller appetite and considers a single slice of pizza sufficient for a meal, that person should recite the "bread" b'rachot with even a single slice of pizza.
See what fun we miss by eating gluten-free pizza? There's no debate—it's not bread!
posted by Shira Salamone at 1:19 PM
4 Comments:
Dang. Now I'm going to have to come up with a GF Oat pizza crust just to tick you off!
Oh, and how about this - the bred us just there to hold up the toppings and cheese and sauce, which are the ikar; so say shehakol.
"Now I'm going to have to come up with a GF Oat pizza crust just to tick you off!"
Another wiseguy heard from. :)
Actually, Reform BT, if a pizza crust made with gluten-free oats tasted as, um, unappetizing as gluten-free oat matzah, I'd pass. Too bad I can't pass on Pesach--I'll have to buy one box of GF oat matzah for the sedarim and actually eat the stuff. Ah, the sacrifices we make for Judaism. :)
"the bread us just there to hold up the toppings and cheese and sauce, which are the ikar [essential]; so say shehakol."
As far as I know, the generally-accepted b'rachah for pizza is either "ha-motzi" or "m'zonot." But your approach does make some sense. Of course, that would apply to "regular" pizza only--the thick-crusted square kind (Sicilian?) would never pass for anything but bread.
Rabbi Dovid Cohen, of the Chicago Rabbinical Council (cRc) has published "Celiac: A Guide to
Mitzvah Observance," which includes just about anything that a person who can't eat gluten might want to know, and more, about staying healthy and fulfilling food-based mitzvot/commandments.
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