Quotes from 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.

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.

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.

There is a level of intimacy in sharing the foods that have shaped me.

My sexuality's something that's intimate. It's not anything that I'm ashamed of.

As proud as I am of being Polish-Canadian, sometimes I'm so jealous I wasn't born Italian.

I do plenty of workouts - HIIT, spinning classes, Pilates, yoga.

I was raised in Montreal, which is very multicultural, very liberal. Then I moved to New York.

I tend to be more of an introvert when I'm traveling. I do a lot of people-watching and espresso-drinking.

I have a deep and pathological obsession with trees and plants.

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.

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.

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.

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.

There's so much that can be learned from French cooking, especially really traditional, more modest meals.

I don't listen to music that I won't like in a month.

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.

My background is in psychology - that's what my bachelor's degree is from, and my specialization.

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.

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.

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?'

I don't cook around heat in my underwear.

For every new thing that I buy, I have to throw something out.

My biggest nightmare is that something doesn't have enough salt.