What Bracha do you make on Sushi?
Is the rice the main part and therefore a mezonos, or is it just a toful (less-important ingredient) in which case I guess a shehakol?
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I've never had sushi. Is the rice there just to balance the flavor of the fish? This is subjective so there may be more than one answer.– YDKCommented Dec 17, 2010 at 18:48
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2BFree, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks very much for the interesting and relevant question! I look forward to seeing you around.– Isaac Moses ♦Commented Dec 17, 2010 at 20:41
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1Sushi, by definition, can have anything stuffed in it and be called sushi as long as you have the properly prepared rice. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi– YahuCommented Dec 17, 2010 at 22:52
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1Since, as @Yahu points out sushi can be filled with anything, perhaps the fact that the name is based on the rice indicates the rice being ikkar (at least within the cultural milieu where it originated).– Ze'evCommented Dec 17, 2014 at 3:13
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Yes @Ze'evFelsen, I should have folowed through with my point. Thanks for completing it!– YahuCommented May 13, 2015 at 20:55
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5 Answers
It seems to me based on these two fairly reliable opinions here and here that the proper barakha for most sushi is mezunot.
Though if you have some of the more interesting varieties of sushi that are lacking the rice and comprise other things it will probably need to corrected accordingly.
answered Dec 18, 2010 at 16:36
It's also worth pointing out that those who follow the opinion of R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi (in his Seder Birchos Hanehenin 1:11, cited in Mishnah Berurah 208:25) should preferably eat sushi, or any other rice dishes, only during a meal of bread, because there are variant views as to whether rice is the orez mentioned in the Gemara, and this would affect the question of what the proper berachah is. He adds that if this is not possible, one should just say shehakol because of this doubt.
(Mishnah Berurah adds, though, that the majority view is that orez is indeed rice, and that common practice follows this identification - hence the sources quoted by Simchas Torah and mekubal.)
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Of course, this is a halachically acceptable solution. But, I think these days many rabbis who don't know the bracha and are, perhaps, too lazy to do some research are using the "Why don't you eat bread?" routne. That really doesn't solve the problem for those who can't or don't want to have a "meal". Bread and a wash station may not always be available. And, on the "flip side", shehakol works but also, perhaps, avoids the research effort.– DanFCommented Mar 27, 2019 at 22:39
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Berachot.com says its Mezonos and, and also writes (Q13, on that page)
What bracha to say on Sushi is a really difficult and fantastic question. I personally asked Rabbi Mandlebaum, the author of V'Zos Habracha, and he confirmed that we treat sushi as the third category of Ikar and Tofel- TaArovet Tofel. Therefore, the bracha would be dictated by the largest ingredient by volume. I am no expert in sushi, but I feel like there is more rice than there is fish or vegetables (counted each separately)
answered Dec 17, 2010 at 19:43
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2Who is he? His answer has validity if subjectively both the fish and the rice are ikarim. If the rice is not an ikar, it's majority would not affect the bracha. (The questioner is correct as well that rice doesn't get the same status as chameishes minim.)– YDKCommented Dec 17, 2010 at 20:26
I asked this question to a posek once, since the rice is majority but the icar is the fish, he said to me to to sheacol since the beracha to rice is mahloket and there are poskim who say it should be sheacol.
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1Sushi, by definition, can have anything stuffed in it and be called sushi as long as you have the properly prepared rice. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi– YahuCommented Dec 19, 2010 at 2:05
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as the article mentions usually it is fish or seafoods, in our case only fish applies, so we can assume that fish is used, since is is the common used ingredient unless otherwise stated– AvrahamCommented Dec 20, 2010 at 16:03
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So what does the rice being a majority have to do with your answer?– YahuCommented Dec 22, 2010 at 5:00
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1maybe the rice could be considered icar because it is majority or maybe not because the fish is the important part and the reason I'm eating it and it has more rice than fish because it is cheaper– AvrahamCommented Dec 22, 2010 at 10:20
I am very keen on sushi; and I love this question because it requires a focus on three issues: (1) ikkar and taffel; (2) rov; and (3) the correct bracha for rice. I am also a fan of this response which is at https://www.star-k.org/articles/kashrus-kurrents/589/insights-from-the-institute-fall-2011/#_ftn1 which concisely summarises the issues and provides a practical solution:
Sushi: Sushi is a Japanese delicacy which has become popular worldwide, consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients. Maki is a type of sushi in which the rice is formed into a cylindrical roll and wrapped in nori, an edible seaweed; the other ingredients are used as a filling. Popular fillings include raw fish, such as salmon or tuna. The increasing popularity of maki sushi has resulted in varieties of fillings found primarily in America and Europe, but rarely in Japan. Depending upon the filling, the roll will have a specific name by which it is commonly referred. Some examples are Tekka roll – tuna filling; Tekkyu roll – tuna and sliced cucumber; Kappa roll – cucumber; Avocado roll – avocado; Alaska roll – salmon, avocado and cucumber filling.[FN15]
Regarding the appropriate brocha, the general rule for a dish with numerous ingredients is to make a brocha on the primary ingredient (the ikkar), and not to make a brocha on the secondary ingredients (the taffel).[FN16] The varieties of maki have different names depending upon the filling, which is generally not considered by the consumer to be secondary to the rice. Irrespective of the filling, the food is known as sushi due to the rice; it appears that the rice is not secondary to the filling either. Furthermore, the filling and the rice are not cooked together, and remain distinct.
Therefore, both the filling and rice are primary ingredients, and both necessitate a brocha.[FN17] For this reason, Rav Heinemann paskens that one should recite Mezonos on the rice, as well as the appropriate brocha on the filling. The nori is secondary to the rice and other ingredients, and does not require a brocha.[FN18]
16.שו”ע או”ח סי’ ריב סעי’ א
17.כעין מש”כ בשו”ת אגרות משה או”ח ח”ד סי’ מג לגבי כריכים דקים של גלידה
18.שמעתי ממו”ר ר’ היינעמאן שליט”א
The Chabad position is summarised here:
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/4815641/jewish/What-Is-the-Bracha-on-Sushi.htm
Sushi: The Rice Question One can argue that the primary ingredient in sushi is rice. In fact sushi is Japanese for “sour rice.” So what blessing do we say before eating rice? For reasons you can read here, there are different traditions regarding this question. The upshot is that the Chabad practice is to either eat rice as part of a bread-based meal (when no blessing at all is needed) or to say the catch-all blessing of Shehakol.
