Preparing foods on Shabbat

From Halachipedia
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Preparing food on Shabbat is a general topic that potentially can involve several melachot on Shabbat. If one wants to learn details about a certain melacha, please visit that melacha specifically. The specific related melachot include: Borer (Separating), Tochen(Grinding), Merakaid (Sifting), Lash (Kneading), and Ofeh and Bishul (Baking and Cooking). B"H below will be the halachot of a number of practical cases of preparing food on Shabbat.

Soda on Shabbat

  1. Many hold that it is permitted to make soda on Shabbat using a soda making machine that fills the water with carbon dioxide.[1]

Ripening an Avocado

  1. It is permitted to place an avocado that is too hard but possible to eat to the sunlight so that it softens if one's intention is to eat it on Shabbat.[2]

Cutting Fruit into Shapes

  1. It is permitted to scoop melon into balls with a ball scooper.[3]
  2. It is permitted to cut a food or fruit into a simple shape such as a triangle or square, but it is forbidden to cut it into a specific design or shape.[4] See Kotev.

Sources

  1. Yabia Omer 3:21
  2. Dor Hamelaktim (Asifat Yitzchak v. 6 p. 4016)
  3. Orchot Shabbat 15:23, Eshmara Shabbat v. 2 p. 354
  4. Mishna Brurah 510:17, Chut Shani (Yom Tov p. 139), Divrei Binayahu 10:49, Eshmara Shabbat v. 2 p. 354. Divrei Binayahu quotes Leviat Chen p. 210 who disagrees with Maharshag that there's no writing with food. Yalkut Yosef (Yom Tov p. 188-9) writes that cutting fruit into a circle, square, or hexagon is fine, but cutting it into a complex shape like a fish is forbidden. Shevut Yitzchak (v. 14 p. 320) writes that cutting into a triangle is fine but into a star is forbidden. See, however, Mayan Omer 14:76 who writes in the name of Rav Ovadia that it is permitted.
Category Topic
Mitzvot of Shabbat
Kiddush Levana - Enjoying Shabbat - Fourth meal of Shabbat - Havdalah - Having a meal on Friday - In the Spirit of Shabbat - Kiddush - Lighting Shabbat Candles - Making Early Shabbat - Making one hundred Brachot on Shabbat - Preparing foods on Shabbat - Preparing for Shabbat - Shenayim Mikrah - Kavod Shabbat - Shabbos Davening - Seudat Shabbat - Seudat Shelishit - Lechem Mishneh - Motzei Shabbat - When Does Shabbat Start?
Restrictions of Shabbat
Allowing Carrying Using an Eruv Chatzerot - Animals on Shabbat - Asking a Jew to work on Shabbat - Asking a non-Jew to work on Shabbat (Amirah LeNochri) - Benefiting from a Violation of Shabbat (Maaseh Shabbat) - Books, notebooks, and papers - Brushing Teeth on Shabbat - Building a structure on Shabbat (Boneh) - Carrying on Shabbat - Cleaning the dishes - Cleaning and Folding Garments on Shabbat - Clearing the table - Cooking (Ofeh and Bishul) - Cosmetics on Shabbat - Dancing and clapping on Shabbat - Electricity on Shabbat - Eruv Chatzerot - Eruvin - Games on Shabbat - Getting dressed on Shabbat - Giving birth on Shabbat - Grinding (Tochen) - Handling objects on Shabbat (Muktzeh) - Infants on Shabbat - Introduction to the Modern Eruv - Kneading (Lash) - Mail on Shabbat - Medicine on Shabbat (Refuah on Shabbat) - Melacha That Begins Before Shabbat - Opening bottles and containers (Boneh) - Plants on Shabbat (Zoreah) - Preparing for after Shabbat (Hachana) - Reading on Shabbat (Daber Davar) - Recreation on Shabbat - Sechirut Reshut - Separating mixtures (Borer) - Squeezing fruits (Sechita) - Speaking on Shabbat (Daber Davar) - Taking a cruise over Shabbat - Taking measurements on Shabbat - Techum - Transactions on Shabbat - Transportation on Shabbat - Going to and Staying in the Hospital on Shabbat - Wages on Shabbat (Sachar Shabbat) - Washing one’s body on Shabbat
Melachos
Introduction to Melechet Machshevet - Marbeh Bshiurim - Plowing - Planting - Harvesting - Gathering - Threshing - Winnowing - Separating - Grinding - Sifting - Kneading - Baking and Cooking - Shearing - Laundering - Combing - Dyeing - Spinning - Mounting warp threads - Making two loops - Weaving - Unraveling fabric - Tying - Untying - Gluing, taping, or stapling - Ripping - Trapping - Slaughtering - Skinning - Tanning - Smoothing - Scoring - Cutting precisely - Writing - Erasing - Building - Demolishing - Completing a vessel - Extinguishing a flame - Kindling a fire - Carrying