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Text Excerpt
מתני׳ הביאו לפניו מליח תחלה ופת עמו — מברך על המליח ופוטר את הפת, שהפת טפלה לו. זה הכלל: כל שהוא עיקר ועמו טפלה — מברך על העיקר ופוטר את הטפלה.
Mishnah: If they brought salted food before him to eat first and bread with it, he recites a blessing over the salted food and thereby exempts the bread, because the salted food is primary while the bread is secondary to it. This is the principle: Any food that is primary and a secondary food is with it, one recites a blessing over the primary and, in so doing, exempts the secondary from its own blessing.
גמ׳ ומי איכא מידי דהוי מליח עיקר ופת טפלה? אמר רב אחא בריה דרב עוירא אמר רב אשי: באוכלי פירות גנוסר שנו.
Talmud: The Talmud asks: And is there a circumstance where salted food is primary and bread is secondary? Generally, no meal has a salted food item as its primary component. Rav Aḥa, son of Rav Avira, said that Rav Ashi said: This halakha was taught with regard to those who eat fruits of Genosar, which are extremely sweet and which would be eaten along with salted foods in order to temper this sweetness. They would eat bread along with those salted foods.
אמר רבה בר בר חנה: כי הוה אזלינן בתריה דרבי יוחנן למיכל פירות גנוסר, כי הוינן בי מאה — מנקטינן ליה לכל חד וחד עשרה עשרה, וכי הוינן בי עשרה, מנקטינן ליה כל חד וחד מאה מאה. וכל מאה מינייהו הוה מחזיק להו צנא בר תלתא סאוי ואכיל להו, ומשתבע דלא טעים זיונא. זיונא סלקא דעתך?! אלא אימא ״מזונא״.
On a related note, the Talmud employs hyperbole in praising the fruits of Genosar. Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: When we would go after R' Yoḥanan to eat fruits of Genosar, when we were 100 people together, each and every one of us would bring him 10 fruits, and when we were 10 people together, each and every one of us would bring him 100 fruits, and every 100 of the fruits would require a basket of 3 se’a to hold them. R' Yoḥanan would eat them all, and was prepared to swear that he had not tasted any food. The Talmud asks: Does it enter your mind that he claimed that he had not tasted any food? Rather, say that he had not tasted any sustenance. Due to their delicious taste, he was still not satiated.