Antoni Porowski became a household name for fans of Netflix’s Queer Eye starting back in 2018, serving as the show’s food and wine expert for all nine seasons. In the 2025 TV schedule, he can be found somewhere completely different than with a Netflix subscription thanks to the premiere of new National Geographic series No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski. The new project features Porowski taking celebrities on food journeys into their families’ pasts, traveling all over the world and sampling dishes. The host spoke with CinemaBlend about the first episode, featuring We Live in Time‘s Florence Pugh and a trip to the U.K.
I chatted with Porowski during SCAD TVfest in Atlanta, not too long before No Taste Like Home was set to premiere on National Geographic and become available streaming with a Disney+ subscription. Six celebrities had been announced for the new series: Quiz Lady‘s Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians‘ Henry Golding, Jury Duty‘s James Marsden, Insecure‘s Issa Rae, The Leftovers‘ Justin Theroux, and of course Florence Pugh. The host couldn’t say why “Florence Pugh’s English Odyssey” was the first episode to release out of the six, but went on to tell me this:
It wasn’t the first that we filmed, that I can tell you, but I’m more obsessed with making sure that certain elements make it to the recipes and pronouncing words. Not the worst episode [to go first] – I mean, it’s Florence. [laughs]
I’m no expert on English cuisine, but since my biggest takeaway from “Florence Pugh‘s English Odyssey” was that I needed to figure out how to make the Yorkshire pudding recipe, I would say that Antoni Porowski succeeded in not stumbling over any words. His obsession paid off, and as he said – a Florence Pugh episode was bound to be a good one to go first. Viewers may have different opinions, but I hope we can all agree that the Yorkshire pudding looks amazing. (Maybe that’s what I’m obsessed with?)
With new episodes releasing on National Geographic on Sunday nights and available streaming now on Disney+, viewers will see different layers of Porowski with No Taste Like Home than they did on Queer Eye, and not just because he’s the solo host this time. When I asked how the Nat Geo offering shows a new side of him, he explained:
The parts that I think remain the same are my curiosity in other people’s stories and just hearing about their relationship with food. The vehicle being National Geographic is just [doing it] in a whole new global way where we get to travel to the corners of the earth with the most beautiful visuals I’ve ever seen in my life.
In the first two episodes (with “Awkwafina’s Korean Homecoming” airing after the Florence Pugh episode on premiere night), Porowski traveled to various places in England and South Korea. Those are only the beginning, as Justin Theroux‘s installment takes him to Italy, while he heads to Germany with James Marsden, Senegal with Issa Rae, and Borneo with Henry Golding. Speaking to the experience, Porowski also reflected on his own family history:
I was raised to Polish immigrants in Canada, didn’t feel Canadian enough. Then I moved to the U.S. and I didn’t feel American enough, because then I was Canadian and also Polish. And so I’ve always kind of felt like I’ve been torn between different cultures. I’ve always felt like more of an international creature, if that makes any sense. So I think just showing me in a light of somebody who’s traveled a lot and who really values that is a really important thing. We’ve had a chance to do it on Queer Eye a little bit, but I think this is in a much bigger, more colorful, exciting way.
Queer Eye fans got to know Antoni Porowski to a certain extent on the hit Netflix show; No Taste Like Home will expand on that with his travels around the world. The next episode, called “Justin Theroux’s Italian Quest,” will tackle the quest for the origins of a family pasta dish on March 2 at 9 p.m. ET on National Geographic. And if you’re still on the fence, check out the trailer below:
No Taste Like Home has some serious travel and food talent behind it, being produced by Gordon Ramsay‘s Studio Ramsay Global production company. Not only has Ramsay had his own food travel adventures on Nat Geo with Uncharted (including fleeing from a hippo in South Africa), but he has been the star and host of many hit food shows himself. Antoni Porowski is also an executive producer.
