“Learn how to treat your vegetables with the love and kindness that they deserve.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Montreal is just so multicultural and ethnic and diverse, and it’s what makes us special. I say ‘us’ like I still live there, but I still do feel like a Montrealer.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I have a deep and pathological obsession with trees and plants.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My comfort zone is in a kitchen.”
― Antoni Porowski
“There should be no rules at your dinner party except for people to eat a lot and enjoy a long night where they feel like they could fall asleep at the dinner table at the end.”
― Antoni Porowski
“How I show love has always been through food. That, for me, has been the foundation of how I express gratitude for anybody around me.”
― Antoni Porowski
“There’s a deodorant I wear called Baux, from L’Occitane, that is super nostalgic because it reminds me of being in Greece in the summer. When I put it on, I’m immediately taken back to that feeling of having salty skin and hair from the ocean and the taste of fresh fish.”
― Antoni Porowski
“A cheese dip is good – it’s for when you’re like, ‘You know what, I’ve had a long day. I’m just gonna eat a big bowl of cheese, and I’m not gonna care about it.’”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m definitely more of an extreme eater. I’m decadent on weekends and try to go plant-based during the week with a bit of fish – pescatarian thrown in.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Food not only connects us at the idyllic dinner table setting with family and friends: it is also part of our mundane, daily transit to and from work.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I truly love a classic Caesar salad.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’ve always considered myself a little more fluid along the spectrum. So even being called bisexual… I remember, in my early twenties, I was like, ‘But bisexual means I can only like girls and guys. What if I like something else?’”
― Antoni Porowski
“My biggest nightmare is that something doesn’t have enough salt.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My background is in psychology – that’s what my bachelor’s degree is from, and my specialization.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I always take a shower now before I go to bed. It’s so important just to cleanse everything off.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Food can offer a moment of pure emotional pleasure in an otherwise hard and difficult world.”
― Antoni Porowski
“If I’m in Italy at a certain time of year, I’ll make sure to try fresh porcini mushrooms in risotto, or puntarelle, a sort of curled chicory leaf that’s only available for a few weeks in May.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Polish people have a wit and sarcasm. They’re gentle but still very strong. Like, they love beer, which is traditionally so manly, but they’ll put a spoonful of jam in it to sweeten it up. They’re this wonderful mix of hard and soft.”
― Antoni Porowski
“It’s important to go into the grocery store with a plan and a list. But it’s a skeleton – you need to know how to deviate from it and adapt it to what ingredients are available and fresh.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I will forever be touched by anybody who has a choice to love someone, and they make a decision to.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I don’t cook around heat in my underwear.”
― Antoni Porowski
“When you’re entertaining, and I still haven’t accomplished this because I’m always stuck in the kitchen, but spend enough time actually with your guests. It allows you to chill with your friends and be an actual, normal human as opposed to being in the kitchen cooking all the time.”
― Antoni Porowski
“When I was around 18, I got kicked out of my parents’ house, and I wasn’t allowed to take anything with me. I slept on YMCA towels for a whole semester in university before my father found out and bought me a mattress. I felt really free because I was finally living on my own, but I was also really depressed because I had nothing.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My T-shirts wrinkle because I sweat a lot.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Rock music as a whole was terrible in the early 2000s.”
― Antoni Porowski
“The truth is that it has not been my pipe dream to have a restaurant. I know restaurateurs, and the amount of work that goes into a restaurant is nothing short of insanity. It’s a real commitment, and most restaurants don’t make it, so the odds are really against you.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Salt is so, so, so important. If that’s the one thing everyone remembers, every step of the way, whenever I cook, I try to incorporate salt.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I consider myself a hyperactive person.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Since puberty, I’ve always known there was a possibility of me being with a man. It wasn’t anything I felt the need to explore until the time came to explore it.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Some people want to define themselves, and they should, as it’s part of their identity. For me personally, I’ve never really had a label for myself.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love a bit of arugula tossed in olive oil and pepper over it to just have something nice and fresh and green.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m very honest about my food background; I’ve never tried to pretend like I was a chef.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I could not be more thrilled to be writing about the recipes I love and think are essential to any novice home cook, professional, and somewhere in between.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Eggplants are finicky, complicated, and often misunderstood. If you know how to treat one well, then it shows that you have know-how and dedication.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My problem with boxer briefs is sometimes they are a little too short, and they ride up your leg.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I make the same noise after I eat too much as I do after I work out.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I am not as knowledgeable about the struggle for gay rights, for our history, the way some of my castmates or other gay men I know are.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’d lived in West Virginia on and off for four to five years growing up. I’m familiar with Bible Belt, with Appalachia, ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’”
― Antoni Porowski
“I was raised in Montreal, which is very multicultural, very liberal. Then I moved to New York.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My sexuality’s something that’s intimate. It’s not anything that I’m ashamed of.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I don’t have the biggest sweet tooth, but I do have one in the morning.”
― Antoni Porowski
“On ‘Queer Eye’ I come in with what I know, and I try to parlay that into lessons for our ‘heroes.’ But that’s really listening to what they need. Sometimes it’s a little more ambitious. Sometimes it’s very simplistic. But it’s got to be something that’s condensed into a short amount of time.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love fishy anchovies and sardines and that kind of stuff.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I fell in love with The Strokes when I was 20, and I’m 34 now and still listen to them religiously.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I don’t listen to music that I won’t like in a month.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I still think it’s weird that people are interested in what I like and what I represent.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I was a busboy, a waiter, a manager, a sommelier… like… all of it from a family-run Polish restaurant, with, like, grandmas in the basement hand-making pierogies, to working at Bond Street for a while. I’ve done it all.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I was a pretty damn good waiter.”
― Antoni Porowski
“For the most part, it was never assumed that I was gay, and I’ve had people be sort of surprised that I was gay or act apologetic like they didn’t know, which would just make me really uncomfortable. And I never had shame for it, but I never felt like introducing myself as, ‘I’m Antoni. I’m gay. How are you?’”
― Antoni Porowski
“My favorite book growing up was ‘The Little Prince.’”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love fantasizing about what my next meal is going to be; it’s probably my favorite topic of conversation.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love all dogs; I really do.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I have a very non-existent, dysfunctional relationship with my biological mother.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Blue cheese and dates are really good if you wrap it in prosciutto. Roast it at about 400 degrees. I love having it with Fullman’s mustard.”
― Antoni Porowski
“When I was studying at the Neighborhood Playhouse, I would overdraft my bank account and not have enough money to buy groceries. But I also discovered how to cook with very limited resources.”
― Antoni Porowski
“After the passing of my personal hero, Anthony Bourdain, I’ve been reflecting a lot on his influence on food culture. He made street food from around the world, that most of us have never heard of, accessible.”
― Antoni Porowski
“There’s not a lot of things that I’m confident about in life, but the way I feel about food is my one thing that I really feel such a strong connection to.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love a good yoga class. I like to switch it up.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I can’t do too much of one thing, or I get very distracted.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I get really manic on set, and then to just get myself to a place where I’m alone in my apartment again, it’s like this recalibrating thing that happens.”
― Antoni Porowski
“If the person needs avocados, then I’m not going to deny them avocados because some troll decided I use avocados too much.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I would want to do a cooking show. But I want to honor the opportunity that’s been given to me with ‘Queer Eye.’ I feel like my work is cut out for me with the show alone. If it ever goes bust, then I’ll explore that possibility.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I have experience more on the front-of-house side of things, but I’ve always had a strong reverence and a respect for chefs… they’ve always been sort of like my rock stars.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I usually like loud T-shirts and band shirts, so I just try to keep it as simple as possible with jeans and white kicks that are worn in and, like, a simple jacket.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My father is Polish, and at 68, he still wears a Speedo to the beach, and he wears regular briefs – so did his father. That was my upbringing.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Part of the intro to life in the public eye is, you get a bit of attention from fashion designers.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m all about tucking in T-shirts.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m very frugal, so I don’t like to shop because I’m afraid everything is going away.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I do plenty of workouts – HIIT, spinning classes, Pilates, yoga.”
― Antoni Porowski
“There’s so much that can be learned from French cooking, especially really traditional, more modest meals.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I think the purpose of veganism is an appreciation for plants and veggies and fruit and to just eating cleaner… If you’re going to go vegan, then really learn how to be.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I don’t like processed soy stuff.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m someone who’s experienced impostor syndrome – as I think a lot of people have with their careers, especially when they pursue what they’re passionate about, because they want to be good at it. I’ve experienced that as a gay man; I’ve experienced that as a cook, as a gallery director, as a student of psychology.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love a little darkness at the table with just enough light from IKEA white candlesticks. Seriously! They look elegant but are simple and unscented and create mood lighting.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Miles Davis is my go-to for music. There’s something so relaxing and ambient about it, and it can be a little manic in a good way.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I don’t really sit when I’m at home.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I don’t get to do quiet time.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m a big Hemingway and Salinger fan.”
― Antoni Porowski
“There is a level of intimacy in sharing the foods that have shaped me.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Everyone should know a sport.”
― Antoni Porowski
“It’s weird, but people like it when I eat things.”
― Antoni Porowski
“What I’ve learned is that living in public life… it’s impossible to have everybody like you. No matter what you do.”
― Antoni Porowski
“As proud as I am of being Polish-Canadian, sometimes I’m so jealous I wasn’t born Italian.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I tend to be more of an introvert when I’m traveling. I do a lot of people-watching and espresso-drinking.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I’m a big, big, big Oasis fan.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I am someone who food has been a constant in my life, and it’s been a passion – it’s something that I’ve constantly studied – and I’m constantly trying to better my craft, and that’s good enough for me.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I know the people who eat my food really enjoy it, and those are the people who matter at the end of the day.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love Greek food in the summer.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Montreal bagels are much better than U.S. bagels, because there’s a sweetness to the dough, and there’s a pull. New York bagels are basically bread in the shape of a bagel.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Some people have their sexuality really at the forefront of who they are, and I applaud those people.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I have to admit that out of 10 meals, nine I have at home.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I love to cook. I love to entertain.”
― Antoni Porowski
“If I want to hear a voice, Lana Del Rey is very soothing, and I could just listen to her on repeat, but my real go-to that’s been very consistent for at least the past ten years is Miles Davis.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My kitchen is limited at best. I have one drawer. But I make do with what I have; it’s taught me to be super efficient in terms of how I clean and how I put things away.”
― Antoni Porowski
“My dream kitchen would have a massive island with some beautiful slab of stone, a huge fridge, possibly even a walk-in – I just want it to be a plethora of fruits and veggies. I would have a nice bar area, too.”
― Antoni Porowski
“For every new thing that I buy, I have to throw something out.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Parsley goes really nicely with everything. It adds a nice lightness; it wakes up a dish.”
― Antoni Porowski
“Jicama, which is one of my favorite things in the summer, looks like a really horrendous root vegetable, which it is – it’s like a hybrid of a potato and an apple, but you can eat it raw.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I really enjoy being vulnerable, and it’s how I connect with other people, and part of how I do that is through food, by sharing something that I feel is very intimate and personal because it’s something that I create out of nothing.”
― Antoni Porowski
“I have a lot of different passions. Food has been a constant through my whole life; it’s something I’ve always had a very intrinsic passion toward and for, and I continue to learn about it, and I’m not going to let any type of negative comments dissuade me from wanting to pursue that, because I love it.”
― Antoni Porowski
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