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Food is an integral part of culture. It’s a way to celebrate traditions, explore history and a great connector of people across the globe.
By learning about the food and eating habits of those around us, and those on the other side of the world, we can learn a lot about ourselves.
This idea is the backbone of No Taste Like Home, a new series hosted by Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski.
The star, 40, who is the popular show’s food and wine expert, is Canadian – but he loves to celebrate his Polish heritage in his food.
He understands the importance of food in connecting with ancestral heritage, and his new foodie series sees him connecting with other famous faces and talking about the dishes that taste like home to them.
With Barbie and American Fiction star Issa Rae in Senegal, Oppenheimer and We Live In Time’s Florence Pugh in the United Kingdom, Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding in Malaysian Borneo, X-Men and Westworld star James Marsden in Germany, Awkwafina, of Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens fame, in South Korea, and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s Justin Theroux in Italy, Porowski goes on a culinary adventure around the globe, learning about the food that makes us who we are.
Let’s catch up with Porowski about his journey of self-discovery, and find out more about some of the dishes that inspired him on his foodie quest.
ANTONI, IT’S QUITE COMMON THAT AS WE GET OLDER, WE RECKON WITH WHO WE ARE, WHERE WE COME FROM. WHAT’S YOUR EXPERIENCE OF THIS?
Nothing like introspection! Last year I turned 40… I’m not a big birthday celebrator. I tend to want to absolutely disappear and not have any attention and just be with my dog in the country. But turning 40 for me was a milestone, because it was the first time that I kind of had this epiphany of, like, I’ve had a life – not a full life, there’s still a lot that I want to accomplish – but, like, I’ve done some things, I’ve learned some things, I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’ve grown, and I’ve changed, and I’ve also stayed the same.
I think as you get older, as you start to accumulate all these experiences in your own personal, mental memoir, I think it’s normal to have the thought of wondering where you came from. Why are we the way that we are?…
With my friends, we joke about therapy and about generational trauma and the things we take on from our parents that we really wish we didn’t. But we have these, like, beautiful generational gifts, and Issa (Rae) was the one who really brought it to my attention in the strongest way, where she’s always known that she’s strong, that she’s confident, but to know that she had ancestors – that she was standing on the shoulders of giants, I think that’s how she worded it…
For her to have that realisation of: We owe so much gratitude to those who came before us, I think it’s such a beautiful and important and necessary journey to go on, on our path to self actualisation, or growing up, or whatever it is.
HOW DO YOU THINK FOOD CAN GIVE US THOSE CLUES, CAN HELP US ON THAT JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY?
Food, as a dish, being so much more than just the ingredients or the sum of its parts is something that I definitely reinforced and strengthened on the journey with No Taste Like Home.
Because when you break something down… I mentioned Issa, so of course she’s on my mind now, and so my brain is in Senegal, but having ndambe, which was beans in this beautiful, soft baguette – which the Senegalese, in my humble opinion, made better than the French did. And you know what? They deserved it, after all that occupation!
To learn that the Senegalese decided: We’re going to take these beans, which are indigenous to us, we’re going to take the baguette, which was forced upon us, we’re going to make it better, and we are going to make it the food that fuels our country as we try to rebuild and find our own sense of identity, which is, like, so beautiful.
It’s a sandwich, but it’s so much more than just a f***ing sandwich! Like, it’s important and it has history and it has meaning, and it dictates where you came from and where you’re headed. It’s so incredibly powerful.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME IS AN INSPIRATION FOR US ALL TO GO ON A CULINARY JOURNEY THROUGH OUR OWN HERITAGE. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS IMPORTANT?
I think the more we know about ourselves, the more we understand and remind ourselves of history – not to get all political – but the less likely we are to repeat certain things. And I think that’s extremely important, especially with what’s going on in the world right now…
But also, I just think it makes you a more confident, well-rounded person when you understand your own culture, and when you really embrace it and all of the beautiful things that it has to offer, you can then share it with people… It’s an opportunity to create your own rituals of breaking bread, however that manifests itself.
It’s cross-cultural, it’s universal, and I’m an optimist, but I’m scared for the world sometimes, and to try to find the things that we can all latch on to, that we can all unite on as a truly united front, I think is extremely important and paramount, especially right now.
No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski is available from Monday, February 24 on Disney+, and Wednesday, February 26 at 10pm on National Geographic Channel.
