837: The Universal Language of Bread with Tony Shalhoub and Maureen Abood

The Splendid Table: Conversations & Recipes For Curious Cooks & Eaters

American Public Media

Arts, Food

4.2 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 31 October 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we’re breaking bread in every sense of the phrase. First, beloved actor Tony Shalhoub joins us to talk about his new CNN series, Breaking Bread, where he travels the world to explore the meaning of bread and how it connects us across cultures and tables. Growing up in a large Lebanese American family in Wisconsin, Tony shares memories of food as a bridge between worlds, from kibbeh and hummus to bratwurst and grilled cheese. Then, we meet Maureen Abood, author of Lebanese Baking, who brings us into the heart of the Lebanese kitchen with recipes and stories that honor tradition and community. She leaves us with her recipe for Za’atar Manakeesh, a beloved flatbread that captures the heart of Lebanese baking: simple, fragrant, and made to share.

Head to our YouTube channel and watch this extended cut of our interview with Tony Shalhoub. Subscribe so you don’t miss anything!

Broadcast dates for this episode:

October 31, 2025 (originally aired)

Our annual cookbook giveaway is live! To enter for free, visit splendidtable.org/cookbook

Generous listeners like you make The Splendid Table possible. Donate today to support the show.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Ana Gonzalez, through this complicated country.
0:08.1	We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, their poetry, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature and get closer to the things we're missing.
0:24.5	Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts.
0:35.1	I'm Frances Lamb, and this is The Splendid Table from APM.
0:43.5	So I don't know if there's such a thing as a universal food, but bread is about as close as it gets on our planet anyway.
0:50.6	From sourdough in San Francisco to bagels in New York, tea bread in Ghana to Injira and Eritrea,
0:57.0	dense ryes in Scandinavia to fluffy steam buns in China, the love of bread circles the globe,
1:03.4	among people whose cultures in many ways couldn't be more different than one of others.
1:08.0	And that's what's made the beloved actor Tony Shaloo interested in it.
1:12.2	The star of the series Monk and the marvelous Mrs. Maisel, among others, he grew up a Lebanese-American
1:17.4	kid in Titledown, USA, Green Bay, Wisconsin, where apparently he felt the mix of cultures on his
1:23.6	home table as a bonding rather than a separating experience.
1:29.4	He is a new show on CNN called Breaking Bread, where he travels
1:31.4	the world to eat and talk to people
1:33.3	about their breads and their lives.
1:36.2	Later in the show, we'll talk
1:37.5	with a wonderful cookbook author, Maureen Aboud,
1:39.8	about her new title, Lebanese baking.
1:42.1	But first, we'll talk
1:43.5	and eat some bread with Tony Shalub in the studio.
1:49.9	So hey, Tony, it's so great to meet you. Thank you. Thank you for having me on board.
1:53.8	I am super excited. I've so enjoyed watching the show. So, okay, you have this new TV show. And
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from American Public Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of American Public Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.