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Antoni Porowski’s endearing, golden-retriever level of excitability is on full display when discussing his favorite filming location for No Taste Like Home, his new travel show on Nat Geo. “It’s a tie between Senegal and Borneo,” says the Queer Eye star, who explores destinations through their food with a celebrity guest who has a connection to the place. Borneo, which he visits with actor Henry Golding, introduced to him the concept of longhouses, a communal home shared by many families in the Iban tribe. “When we showed up and were ready to film, we had to have an emergency production meeting because the leader of the longhouse wanted to walk with us from beginning to end, introducing us to every single family. I get goosebumps thinking about it!” he says. “They made us a feast with 30 pots of rice, because every family wanted to make their own pot of rice. It was the most magical thing.”
Senegal, with its devastating history of slavery and colonization, also awed him with its cultural focus on hospitality. “Their number-one value is teranga, sharing everything you amass. It’s not even discussed,” he says. “Obviously the moringa stews and rice dishes were just unbelievable, but it really did reshape my whole notion of what is happiness, what are my actual needs, what is necessary for me to live a full life.”
Ahead of the new show, which also includes stops in South Korea with Awkwafina and Italy with Justin Theroux, Porowski talked to Condé Nast Traveler with unbelievable enthusiasm about his go-to in-flight products, hotel TV programming, and exploring Polish resort towns with his father.
How he makes himself at home in a hotel:
As a queer man, lighting is really important. When you're at your gay friend's house, there's always dimmers everywhere. Lighting and mood is everything to me. I always travel with a candle in case the lights are too bright. Here's a pro tip: If you’re not flying with checked luggage, take it out of your carry-on luggage, along with your laptop or iPad, because the bomb thing always goes off. It saves you a lot of time. I have a scent that’s familiar of home, and makes me feel a little nostalgic, especially if I’m away for a long time.
How he gets rest on planes:
I always have a sleep mask. I love my Slip sleep masks, the silky ones. My esthetician taught me recently that you have to wash those once a month. There’s so much oil that comes out of your skin. I always have a pair of socks to change into for the flight. I know it’s weird, but there’s something about putting on a fresh, clean pair of Adidas white tube socks on a flight. I get them on sale on Amazon. I always carry chamomile tea pouches, which I typically get from lounges, or my Mighty Leaf; I really love their chamomile citrus. They don’t really have good tea on flights. Luggage gets lost, so it’s always helpful to have a spare pair of underwear and a t-shirt, and I always switch from track pants or sweatpants to gym shorts while I’m on the flight, because I tend to overheat.
His best in-flight gadget:
If you’re invested in really fancy Bose headphones or AirPods Max, there’s this little thing called an Air Fly. It has three universal plugs. No matter where you are in the world, you can plug it into the TV screen in front of you, and Bluetooth any AirPods or headphones you have, so you get that really nice experience and noise cancelling.
His favorite in-flight beauty product:
I love a little mist situation. I’m a big fan of Tata Harper. She has this awesome farm in Vermont [run by] all women, and she’s obsessed with ingredients. Everything is technically edible. They’re just super clean products if your skin is reactive. This is the Boosted Contouring Eye Balm. It’s really dense and luxe. I dry out like crazy on flights, and you’re supposed to put it around your eyes but I do around my nose too, and the T-zone. It’s less than 15 mL, so it’s teeny tiny, but I’ve been using it aggressively the last two weeks and barely made a dent. Anything you can do to seal your face is really important. I’m telling everybody!
His rigorous schedule on vacation:
I love a routine. For New Year's, I rented a house in the Caribbean with a bunch of friends. If you're going with a group, the casting process is really important. You want to make sure that everyone's having a good time. In the morning, I make sure I'm doing some kind of movement; it's probably a little workout by the pool, like doing pullouts out of the pool to get my body moving. If I'm in a city, especially if it's the first time I'm ever there, my favorite thing is to go for a light jog. I have shitty knees from swimming, but for somebody who has zero sense of direction or geography—in New York, I forget what street I'm on sometimes—it's such a great way to get to know the lay of the land. Even taking a nice walk in the morning with a coffee to understand your environment a little bit. Then, If I'm staying at an Airbnb or a VRBO, I am going to a market to get my ingredients or whatever I need for the day—fresh fruit, cheese. The afternoon is spent relaxing and taking it easy. Then there’s nothing better, when the sun is coming down, to go into town or be near a port to get that beautiful glow and do an aperitivo somewhere. I work my way down to lazy.
What he looks for in a hotel:
I’m not a snob—I could sleep on a floor—but that said, really nice, crisp white sheets? The Four Seasons, they’re known for their mattresses and pillows, and there’s a reason. They’re just so comfy. Bedding is really important. I love taking a bath, especially after a long flight. If I’m inflamed and I haven’t had a turmeric shot, I want to take a nice little epsom bath. It’s lovely when they have a little salt kit situation. I just dump the whole thing in. I love bar soap; I feel like body washes can stay a little oily and filmy.
As for the mini bar:
Mini bars are so hit and miss. My favorite ones are in all the boutique hotels that take wellness into consideration, and you have a lot of non-alcoholic beverages. For people who don’t drink or are doing a dry month or whatever, sometimes we’re just tired of drinking sparkling water and tea! It’s nice to have a selection other than Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, like fresh little fruit juices that you can mix in with sodas. I’m always paying attention to snacks because I’m a massive snacker.
The pills that are and aren’t in his carry-on:
I used to be a big supplement guy, and I’ve minimized to just the things I really need. Melatonin is something that my father’s told me forever to take to prevent getting sick, because it increases how much REM sleep you get. But when I flew to South Korea, I learned it’s highly illegal to bring in any type of melatonin and you can be jailed and fined a crazy amount. So readers traveling with any type of supplements, always do your research about what you can bring into a country. Do not make assumptions. We get so inflamed and blocked-up when we travel, so fiber pills are so important if you’re not able to get your leafy greens. I always have capsules on standby.
Why he still loves the big three of Western Europe:
Paris, every single time. But I have to say, because I worked on No Taste Like Home with Studio Ramsay, based in Soho in London, I've been going there a lot more often. I’d been very intimidated by London for a long time, and I'm finally understanding the areas in Belgravia and Soho and Chelsea, and starting to know my place around there. I think it's one of the most walking-friendly cities ever, and there's so much that you can do, from the touristy to the little pubs and antique shops. We filmed there as well, with Florence [Pugh]. Paris and London, there's a reason why everybody always references those cities. Rome is the close third, because Rome is my favorite city to walk through.
The country with cuisine he’s dying to learn more about:
I'm inspired by Vietnam. I've been learning about Vietnamese stalks and their different aromatics. I've been down a YouTube spiral for days. I was raised on a lot of Vietnamese food because we have a really large community in Montreal, and it was always just so herbaceous and fresh and spicy and citrusy. It's just feel-good, fresh food. I'd just be fascinated to learn about the nuances: What's the difference between the north and the south? As you move to the south, does it get sweeter, spicier? How does the terrain change? Hopefully, for No Taste Like Home season two, we find somebody who has Vietnamese origins and we can go down that path.
A hotel feature he adores:
One of my obsessions is when the TV is on [in the room], and you get to learn a little bit about the history of the hotel. Sunset Tower in Los Angeles has the greatest video of all time—you learn that John Wayne lived on the first floor because he wanted to have his own cow so he can have his milk in the morning. Frank Sinatra lived a few floors up, and his mistresses lived on the top floor when his wife lived on another one. Love, love, love historical videos like that. Another group that does really well is the Belmond. They were procured by LVMH but still very much operate on their own philosophy. Every single one of their properties has the most beautiful story, and they try to integrate the history and honor the past. It gets me excited to roam around the hotel and discover all the rooms.
A destination he feels is underrated:
This past summer, my dad retired. As part of his retirement, I was like, “Dad, we're going on a father-son trip. Wherever you want to go in the world, I got you, my treat.” He said, “We’re going to Poland,” which is where I’m from. We went to a place called Zakopane, in the south. He had never been, and he's been to Poland countless times and spent a lot of his upbringing there. If you love the Swiss Alps and St. Moritz and parts of Germany and Bavaria and you want to go on a budget—it's expensive for Poland, but it's still really cheap. Zakopane has the most beautiful skiing in the winter, and in the summer, I had some of the most epic hikes ever with my dad. If you want to be in the outdoors, or outdoors-adjacent, the town is so beautiful. There's wood elves carved into every single structure, and you can get this smoked oscypek cheese from little old granny vendors on the side of the road. It's whimsical and cozy and everyone is just so sweet. You truly feel like you're in the past. All you want to do is eat stew and soup and pumpernickel bread smeared with port fat. I had the best time, and it was so unexpected. It’s nice to go somewhere that’s really familiar and see it in a completely different way. Obviously I'm biased, because I'm Polish, but I think it's such a cool place.
Where he’s hoping to go next:
Patagonia. My good friend Marcos is from Argentina, and he did a trip with his now-husband there last year. Some of the footage that he took, from these pristine blue glacier lakes to the mountains, to the fields and through crazy windstorms—you're in the elements in the realest way. I'm reading In Patagonia right now, and it's something that we're trying to plan with a group of us. I want to go live my [chef] Francis Mallmann dream at some point.
