Tony Shalhoub loves bread, and he thinks it can get you ‘out of your own sphere’

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Tony Shalhoub is hesitant to draw comparisons between his new CNN series, “Breaking Bread,” and the travel food programs presented by his longtime friend and colleague Stanley Tucci, who directed him in the beloved culinary film “Big Night.”

“I wouldn’t call myself a food expert,” Shalhoub explains in a video conversation. “He’s a true foodie, a fantastic chef. He genuinely understands food, and I really don’t know much about it.”

I’ve always loved Tony Shalhoub, and while he might admit he’s not a bread expert, he more than makes up for it with his genuine excitement! He’s hosting and producing a new show called “Breaking Bread,” which starts Sunday at 9 p.m. Pacific, and it’s amazing. He travels all over the world, trying different kinds of bread and foods made with bread, but it’s about so much more than just the food. He explores how bread connects to people’s journeys, the work that goes into making it, and even his own family’s story. Actually, his father, who came to Wisconsin from Lebanon, plays a big role in several episodes. His dad’s love of bread was actually one of the things that inspired Tony to create the whole show!

According to Shalhoub, they typically ate bread from a bakery instead of the pre-packaged kind you find in stores, and he wanted to show us how much he valued that,” he explains.

Even so, Shalhoub aims for more than just visually appealing food content. In the days leading up to the show’s release, Shalhoub explained his belief that “Breaking Bread” explores deeper themes. This interview has been edited for both clarity and a more concise length.

How did doing a food show even come to you?

Well, I was so enamored of Stanley [Tucci’s] show.

I was going to ask if Stanley had something to do with it.

We didn’t discuss it much, but I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from Stanley. Even before his food travel show, “Searching for Italy”, my nephew, Michael Matzdorff, came to me while I was living in Los Angeles. He was baking bread at the time – this was well before the pandemic made that popular. We started talking about bread, and I was really impressed with what he was doing at home. He casually suggested, “Wouldn’t it be amazing to explore bread making around the world?” We put together a proposal, but it didn’t gain much momentum back then – this was a couple of decades ago. Still, the idea stuck with me. I later mentioned it to Tamara Weiss, a producer on the show, and she had a brilliant idea to rework it, and I think the timing was just right.

Television

It’s no surprise that the experienced actor, who also loves food, became a viral sensation last spring while making a drink. He explained, “I have lived my life, and a big part of that has been through what I’ve tasted,” he says.

Was this your nephew that appears in the Tokyo episode or a different nephew?

He’s an older nephew compared to the others. I have lots of nephews and nieces, and they’re all incredibly bright. But there’s another side to this, beyond my interest in bread and breadmaking around the world. I’ve been an actor for a long time and I’ve been very lucky to have received so many opportunities. However, I’ve recently started to feel a desire to reconnect with the world. When your work consists mainly of reading scripts and portraying fictional characters, you can start to feel a little detached from real life after a while. That feeling was a major reason for this new endeavor. I wanted to meet new people, travel to new or even familiar places, but see things from a fresh perspective. In many ways, it’s been a truly revealing experience. Aside from the food aspect, I’ve found it’s been really beneficial for me. It helps you step outside of your own thoughts and routines, and it reminds you that there’s so much happening in the world beyond your own experience.

Let’s talk about how you decided on your travel destinations. Many of the places you visit are meaningful to you personally. You initially wanted to begin in Lebanon, your father’s homeland, but the unstable political climate there led you to Brazil, which has a significant Lebanese community. You also spend time in New York, your current home, and Wisconsin, where you grew up.

We started with around 12 potential locations, some of which were just places I’d always wanted to visit. When we began working with CNN, especially for the first season, they asked that I have a personal link to each location. We narrowed it down to about 10, and they ultimately selected six. New York was an obvious choice, as this is my second time living here, and I truly love it. I consider it home and where a large part of my career has unfolded. I also chose Marseille because my father, when immigrating from Lebanon over a century ago – like many immigrants at the time – had to stop there. We’ve always been curious about that leg of his journey. We knew he left Beirut and arrived at Ellis Island, but the details of his time in between were unknown. We were able to research that and uncover some new information about it.

Family members, like your daughter Josie Adams and a different nephew, also appear. What was your reason for including them?

Whenever bread or food comes up in conversation, I usually think back to my childhood. My memories of growing up, my parents, and other older relatives are closely tied to it-that’s where my strongest connection to food comes from. It’s always been something that brings us together.

Throughout the process of creating the show, how did your feelings about bread – it’s obvious you enjoy it – evolve?

The most important thing I took away from the show was that it ended up being more about the people I connected with than the bread itself. There were some things I recognized, presented in new and interesting ways, and other things I hadn’t tried or seen before. But it was truly the people – their passion for their work and what drove them to be so dedicated – that stood out. For me, the show became about sharing their stories and backgrounds, whether those were family histories, immigration experiences, or tales from countries affected by war. Honestly, the bread was simply a way to start conversations about these much deeper topics.

I want to express this carefully, but I worry that shows like this have a limit to how useful they can be when it comes to food. That’s my concern. I wonder if someone will eventually say, “Enough is enough.” There are many critical issues demanding our attention, and while food is essential – we need it daily to survive – I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. I hope bread, specifically, can be a starting point for more important discussions. It’s inevitable we talk about food, but I want it to lead to something deeper.

The Marseille section of the game reveals pieces of your father’s past, specifically information about his journey to America which you find in the city’s archives. Can you describe what it was like to learn about that experience?

It was a really emotional experience, especially sharing it with my daughter and talking things through with her. She never got to meet my father, as he passed away before she was born. I honestly don’t think I would have been able to learn these things if I hadn’t been working on this show, in that particular city, right now. These stories would have likely remained hidden and unknown.

Review

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Tony Shalhoub returns as the detail-oriented and anxious detective Adrian Monk in “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie,” which starts streaming on Peacock this Friday.

Clearly, as an actor, you’ve likely eaten while filming before, but did you ever consider how you would respond to the taste of what you were eating?

I didn’t consciously think this through or make a plan. My goal was to find ways to minimize how the market would react. “God, that’s delicious.” That’s the typical response when someone tries something new and enjoyable, naturally. However, I was focused on being receptive and, instead of verbalizing my thoughts, I often just allowed the experience to flow into me, letting my body respond instinctively.

There’s a moment when you almost do a little dance.

Because some of this stuff just transcends words.

Was there something you tried that truly surprised you?

I’ve eaten a lot of pastry throughout my life, so when I tried Mary O’s Irish Soda Bread scones, I was really impressed. I’ve made and eaten scones before – I enjoy them – but these were something special. It reminded me of Brazil, where they once couldn’t grow wheat. Before importing it, they used cassava flour for everything, including a delicious cheese bread. It was light, gluten-free, and surprisingly, you could eat a lot of it without feeling full or bloated.

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2025-10-03 13:36