Rav Nachman bar Yitzhak says that garlic and leeks become worse when they are cooked. Tosfos interprets that when they are cooked with other things they become good as part of the dish, but they themselves becomes worse. I was just reviewing this with a group of people here, and we realized that where we live this is very hard to understand.
In Japan, it is normal to eat cooked garlic on its own. Pickled garlic is a normal addition to rice, and fried or grilled garlic is eaten as a snack. There is no essential difference between the type of garlic in Japan and in the west, and what seems to be different is only the method of preparation and the gastronomical culture.
How then are we to understand tosfos? We see that if garlic is cooked a certain way, its taste definitely improves, and that this is a common (the most common?) way of eating it in this part of the world.
A more practical question is: What bracha should we say here hallacha lemaase for cooked garlic?
It is interesting also to note that leeks here are also eaten mainly cooked, and dipped in miso (soy bean paste), so the same question applies.
Daniel Moskovich, Kyoto, Japan
The question about the Berachah on garlic in Japan sounds complicated but firstly we have to try and understand why Japan seems to be different from the rest of the world. Firstly, I should point out that the Mishnah Berurah (205:7) seems to say that if one fried the garlic in oil, the Berachah would be Borei Peri ha'Adoma. Additionally, from M.B. (205:6) it seems that if they were cooked for a very long time, it is also ha'Adoma, so maybe that is what you are doing in Japan.
If however there is no difference at all between Japan and everywhere else, merely in the national taste, then this might be comparable to the Gemara (Shabbos 92a) that states that if one carries out a burden on one's head in the public domain on Shabbos, one is exempt because this is an unusual way of carrying. Even though one might argue that this is the way the people in Hutzel always carry, nevertheless this does not change the Halachah because in Hutzel they are different than everywhere else. See Tosfos 92b DH VIT'L and Tosfos Eiruvin 28a DH u'Bavel who seem to imply that if there is no reason why one place is different than everywhere else, then this place also would receive the same Halachah as the rest of the world.
However, as aforestated, I think we need to know some more facts before any decision can be made about the Brachah on garlic in Japan.
Kol Tuv,
D Bloom
Kvod HaRav,
Thank you very much for your prompt and informative reply.
My question about fried or grilled garlic is answered (it is fried in oil for a long time, and when grilled virtually never eaten alone), so what remains is the question about pickled garlic, which is the most common way of eating cooked garlic in Japan I think. I did an internet search, and discovered that it is in fact a Chinese dish, imported into Japan and perhaps sometimes modified to suit Japanese tastes.
There are four basic varieties- pickling in soy sauce, in soy bean paste, in oil, and in vinegar. What my wife makes, with crushed plums to add taste, is essentially pickling in vinegar and belongs to the fourth category, although I assume the Hallacha would be the same for all four.
So it would seem that in fact Japan is not different from the rest of the world, and that cooked garlic is commonly eaten in China as well (at least in some regions).
Incidentally, Korea's national dish kimchi is also essentially pickled garlic, although there it is crushed so I would assume the bracha is shehakol.
Concerning leaks, I withdraw my question, because it indeed seems to be extremely uncommon to eat them cooked.
Thank you very much for your detailed information about the preparation of garlic in the Far East. Since all this involves a practical ruling on these Halachos for an entire country I think that the question should be addressed to one of the famous Poskim and I certainly am not qualified to answer this.
However, I have one or two comments on what you wrote. You write that you assume that Korea's national dish, kimchi, is Shehakol because the pickled garlic is crushed. I would refer you to SHULCHAN ARUCH (202:7) that one says ha'Eitz on crushed dates. MISHNAH BERURAH #40 writes that even though they were totally mashed up, nevertheless, since the dates themselves are still present, one says ha'Eitz. Similarly, mashed potatos are ha'Adoma. Mishnah Berura #42 writes that the Halachah follows this opinion if the body of the dates is still there and one can still see that they are dates. Therefore one would need to know if the garlic in the kimchi has been liquified in a similar way to the "Pavilda" (jam or jelly) mentioned by Rema there, or whether the garlic is still recognizable.
This question may also apply to the crushed plums your wife makes. Another question is: what is the principal component of the garlic-plum dish? If the plums are merely adding taste to the garlic, then it would seem to appear from Mishnah Berurah 205:7 that the Beracha on the garlic is ha'Adoma, but if the converse is true, that the plums are the important ingredient, the Beracha on the garlic would appear to be Shehakol.
Kol Tuv,
D. Bloom
be Shehakol
Rebbe,
As far as fruit being crushed not altering the ha'etz beracha I think it also depends on the consistency of the result. I was told to make a shehakol on apple sauce that is not chunky. If one can't see any pieces of apple and the whole sauce is liquidy then the beracha would be a shehakol.
B'kavod,
Sam kosofsky
Dear Daniel,
I spoke to Rav Neuwirt, here in Yerushalayim, about the question on the Berachah on prepared garlic in Japan. He said that the rule is that one looks at what is the normal and tasty way of eating the food. Therefore, if this is the usual way of eating garlic in Japan, the Berachah is ha'Adamah. He compared this with the Berachah on raw carrots. At one time, hardly anyone ate raw carrots; it was all cooked. Therefore the Berachah on raw carrots was she'Hakol. However, nowadays it is quite common to eat raw carrots so the Berachah is ha'Adama.
(I told Rav Neuwirt about an account I once heard that someone here asked Rav Yoel Kluft zt'l, the Rav of Haifa, who was of Lithuanian origin, what Berachah one should make on raw carrots. Rav Kluft exclaimed, "What! Are you a horse?!" - in Europe, raw carrots were only animal fodder.)
KOL TUV
D. Bloom