Shevuot 21: False Oaths and Amounts of Food Eaten

After ending their conversation about false oaths and vain oaths, the rabbis discuss punishments for transgressions.  For example, Rabbi Yochanan is cited as saying that one receives lashes for a transgression done through an action; the only transgressions without actions that result in lashes are false oaths, temurah, exchange in the context of offerings, and cursing a Jew with G-d's name.  The rabbis search for proof texts and debate whether or not a warning is also required to warrant lashes for the transgression of stating a false oath.

What if a person swears that s/he will not eat and then s/he eats a small amount of something?  Must one consume a certain amount of food to have transgressed his/her oath? The rabbis discuss whether there is a minimum amount of food - perhaps an olive bulk or a peruta - that must be consumed for the oath to have been broken.  They note the importance of specifying that one might eat something and the amount of that consumption at the time that one takes an oath in order to be liable.