Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House Artwork

For the Ages: A History Podcast

Explore the rich and complex history of the United States and beyond. Produced by The New York Historical, host David M. Rubenstein engages the nation’s foremost historians and creative thinkers on a wide range of topics, including presidential biography, the nation’s founding, and the people who have shaped the American story. Learn more at nyhistory.org.

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For the Ages: A History Podcast

Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House

December 01, 2025 • The New York Historical • Season 5 • Episode 7

Some of the most significant moments in American history have occurred over meals, as US presidents broke bread to strengthen alliances, diffuse tensions, and broker peace: Thomas Jefferson’s nation-building receptions; Richard Nixon’s practiced use of chopsticks to pry open China; Jimmy Carter’s cakes and pies that fueled a détente between Israel and Egypt at Camp David. Author Alex Prud’homme joins David M. Rubenstein to discuss the political power wielded by the White House kitchen.

Recorded on June 30, 2024