Tasting Food While Fasting, Breaks Fasting?

Can we taste the food we are cooking while fasting?

Some people are often confused and ask the law about people who taste or smell the aroma of food, whether this invalidates the fast or is legal.

Some think that tasting food or cooking in the middle of the day while fasting is to break the fast. However, there are also those who state that tasting food is permissible and does not break the fast, with certain conditions.

As Muslims, we must know that the main purpose of fasting is to increase piety. Therefore, all actions can be seen from the intentions of someone who does his actions.

In principle, what breaks the fast is the entry of food or drink into the mouth.
There is a hadith narrated by Imam Bukhari, that tasting food does not break the fast as long as it does not enter the throat.

“There is nothing wrong with tasting vinegar or other food as long as it does not enter the throat.” (HR Bukhari)

There is also another opinion about the permissibility of tasting food while fasting, inferred from qias through a hadith narrated from Abdullah bin ‘Abbas, he said: “There is nothing wrong with a person tasting the broth of food or a food, as long as it does not get swallowed up in the throat, while he is fasting.” (Narrated by Ibn Abi Syaibah and Baihaqi).

In this context it means that tasting or inhaling the aroma of food does not break the fast as long as the food does not enter the esophagus. Thus, a person who tastes food should taste enough and then remove it from the mouth. Keep in mind, in tasting the cuisine, it must be based on the need to guarantee the quality of the food or cuisine.

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