haifagirl:
So, if I offer you something called “rice,” why isn’t the brocha what one would make on rice? Is it because I say “rice” in Japanese instead of English? Does that really make a difference?
Actually, if you want to look at the matter from a historical perspective, the ikkar is definitely NOT the rice. Fish farmers used to preserve their fish by pressing them between sheets of vinegared rice. When they used the fish, they would throw out the rice. Eventually they decided to just eat the rice too. 😛 Don’t know what impact this would have on the bracha, though.