One of the most common mistakes a person makes in the sukkah (booth)—I was there last night—is the following. Everyone is under the impression that you only say the Beracha (blessing) or Leshev baSukkah (to dwell in the sukkah) if you eat mezonot (grain-based foods). Well, that's not correct. If you eat the amount of mezonot at which you would normally say Hamotzi (blessing over bread)—230 grams, or approximately half a pound—then you also have to say Leshev baSukkah. Here's the mistake: people think that's only if you eat... It's not so much: two good slices of cake and you're already there. But there's a little bit of confusion.
In the halachot (laws) of Hamotzi Lechem Min HaAretz (Who brings forth bread from the earth) and Birkat Hamazon, we know that this doesn't apply to all mezonot. It only applies to mezonot that were baked. But mezonot that were boiled, like pasta, are not included. That means that if you're going to eat a baked item—cake, whatever—and you're eating that amount, then you have to say Hamotzi and Birkat Hamazon. If you know ahead of time that that's what you're going to eat, you have to say Hamotzi and Birkat Hamazon. But if you're going to eat pasta, even if you eat two pounds of pasta, you don't say Hamotzi and Birkat Hamazon because it doesn't resemble bread. Bread is baked. This is cooked. Therefore, you don't do that.
Now, when it comes to sukkah, it's not the same thing. People assume, “Since I don't say Birkat Hamazon, I don't say Hamotzi because it's pasta. Therefore, I don't have to say Leshev baSukkah.” That's wrong. When it comes to a seudah (meal), that's only a technicality about which Beracha to say. Really, what it means is that pasta, in that amount—half a pound of pasta, which is not a lot—goes very quickly on a plate. If you're eating pasta, even if it's boiled, that's your seudah right now. It has enough to make it a seudah.
“But I'm not saying Hamotzi.” Who cares? It's not about Hamotzi and Birkat Hamazon. It's about the amount of mezonot you're eating. If you're eating 230 grams of pasta, you have to say Leshev baSukkah because that becomes your meal. I've seen that people don't know this halakha (Jewish law), and they just say mezonot without saying Leshev baSukkah because they assume that one halakha has to do with the other. This is a flat mistake. If you eat 230 grams of any kind of mezonot that comes from the five grains, then a person would have to say Leshev baSukkah.