Breaking Bread in the Press
From local television and public radio to higher education publications, civic organizations, and academic research, Breaking Bread is part of a growing conversation about how shared meals can bring people together.
Breaking Bread: A Rollins College Student Creates a Club to Foster Connection Through Shared Meals
WESH 2 profiled Breaking Bread founder Joseph Pool and the organization’s effort to bring people of different backgrounds and beliefs together through shared meals and difficult conversations.
Featured Coverage
Student Group Unites Over Food
College Presidents for Civic Preparedness featured Breaking Bread’s beginnings at Rollins and its use of shared meals and meaningful conversation to help students find common ground.
Read the Story →Thanksgiving and the Role Food Plays in Central Florida Gatherings
Breaking Bread founder Joseph Pool joined Central Florida Public Media to discuss how food can create connection, open difficult conversations, and help people bridge cultural differences.
Listen to the Conversation →Breaking Bread: A New Club at Rollins
Rollins College introduced Breaking Bread and founder Joseph Pool’s effort to help students make connections through shared meals and conversation.
Read the Story →More Than a Conversation
Breaking Bread grew from an academic question into a real-world experiment in food diplomacy. The idea has since been explored through scholarship, interfaith leadership, and civic engagement.
Culinary Diplomacy: Settling Religious Feuds Through Food
The Bloomsbury Handbook of Religion and FoodJoseph Pool and Yudit Greenberg explored the role food can play in peacebuilding, cultural exchange, and bridging religious differences.
Explore the Research →Interfaith America BRAID Fellowship
Joseph Pool was selected as one of 20 students nationwide for the inaugural Interfaith America BRAID Student Fellowship, focused on building relationships across interfaith differences.
Learn More →Recognized for Building Community Across Differences
Joseph Pool was named the 2025 Omicron Delta Kappa Gen. Russell E. Dougherty National Leader of the Year. The recognition cited his work with Breaking Bread to foster cross-cultural understanding, civil debate, and connection.
Learn More →From One Campus to a Larger Conversation
Breaking Bread began at Rollins College. The model has since been tested in new settings, with new audiences, and at a dramatically larger scale.
Where we set the table.
Founded in 2023 as the result of academic research. Dinners across difference. Interfaith and intercultural events. Monthly Eatings. One of Rollins’ fastest-growing student organizations.
Read the Rollins Story →Where our movement spread.
From a small liberal arts college to one of America’s largest universities. UCF proved people everywhere were hungry for dialogue.
Where we needed more chairs.
Invited to lead Breaking Bread’s largest-ever program. 400 young leaders dined and dialogued together at the leadership conference.
Read About the Conference →Featured By
More from the Conversation
- Rollins College What It’s Like … to Start Your Own Student Organization
- Rollins College Breaking Bread is a CommUNITY Champion
- Rollins College Pool ’26 and Greenberg Explore Culinary Diplomacy Through Research
- Rollins College Cohen ’25 and Pool ’26 Named Ginsburg Fellows
- Orlando Sentinel Harness the Power of Food to Build Connection, Community
- Orlando Sentinel Breaking Bread in Honor of Mister Rogers’ Legacy March 17, 2026
Media & Press Inquiries
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The Story Is Still Being Written
Breaking Bread began with one table. It has already moved beyond it. If you want to bring people together around a table of your own, there’s a seat waiting.
Schools
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Organizations
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Help bring more people, communities, and conversations to the table.