#309: Food Included in Tochen
1. According to most poskim, all vegetables and fruit are included in the prohibition, both those edible raw and those not edible raw. Tochen does not apply to foods that do not grow from the ground, similar to certain other melachot (ex: Dosh). Tochen does not apply to chopping pieces of egg, fish, meat, or the like. Thus, one may chop up tuna, egg salad, chicken, or any similar food.
2. Although tochen does apply to foods that grow from the ground, it generally does not apply to grains. The reason is that “ein tochen achar tochen,” there is no tochen after tochen. Since grains are ground up into flour before being made into dough and baked, baked foods are generally not subject to tochen. Therefore, one may grind up or cut up bread, cookies, or other grain products into small pieces.
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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.
