Hello Everyone,
The French are famous for their cooking which they take very seriously. One example of this seriousness is that the French have two separate words for “bakery.” They have “boulangeries” and “patisseries.” Actually, the French even have a third word,”viennoiserie” which confuses me.
At a “boulangerie” you can buy bread. At a “patisserie” you buy cake.
The French attitude towards baked goods is seen, l’havdil, in the Halacha. The Halacha makes a sharp distinction between bread and cake. The blessing that we say before eating bread is different from the blessing we say before eating cake. The blessing that we say after eating bread is different from the blessing that we say after eating cake.
In the coming two sessions we will talk about the blessing said after eating cake- “Al Hamichya.”
The blessing of “Al Hamichya” has a rather complicated set of Halachot. I was not sufficiently precise when I said that Al Hamichya is the blessing to be said after eating cake. That was misleading. The blessing Al Hamichya is the blessing that we say after eating baked goods that are not bread . Some baked goods are clearly “not bread.” Seven-layer cake and chocolate cookies are baked goods that are clearly not bread. But if we ask about pizza, pizza is not “cake.” But is pizza “bread”? Is it bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese? Or is it a third category of baked good? The pizza question is the cause of much confusion which I hope we will clarify in the coming two weeks.