Destroying food is especially serious. Food sustains human life, and the prohibition of bal tashḥit is itself stated in connection with food. The Sages therefore added safeguards and warnings to keep people from wasting food, especially bread, which is the basic staple of human sustenance.
The Sages warned not to pass a filled cup of liquid over bread, lest some of the liquid spill onto the bread and make it unfit to eat. One may likewise not place a possibly dirty utensil near bread, lest it ruin the bread. This applies to other foods as well – one may not do anything that could ruin or destroy them (Berakhot 40b; SA OḤ 171:1). Accordingly, when filling his plate, one should be careful not to take more than he can eat, so that food is not thrown away unnecessarily. When preparing a meal, too, one must be careful not to prepare excessive amounts of food that are very likely to be discarded. If, however, the setting is one in which honor requires serving in abundance, one may prepare and serve large quantities even though some of the food will be thrown away.
One may not sit on a backpack or sack containing foods that may be crushed (SA OḤ 171:2). Similarly, one may not throw foods that may become unappealing as a result. When there is no such concern, one may throw them. For example, one may distribute almonds and pomegranates by tossing them. Likewise, many synagogues have the custom to throw candies when a groom is called up to the Torah. Since the candies are wrapped and there is no concern that they will become unappealing when thrown, there is no prohibition. Bread, however, may not be thrown even onto a clean table, even when there is no concern that it will become unappealing. Since bread is the staple of human sustenance, it must be treated with special respect and not thrown in the way one throws less important foods (SA OḤ 171:1). [10]
One may use bread as a utensil to eat another food, provided that the bread is eaten afterward. Those who are meticulous are careful to eat a little of the bread each time, so that it is not degraded by being treated merely as a spoon (SA OḤ 171:3).
