What is it About Home?

The idea of home is different for everyone. Of course, most people naturally try to create a personal sanctuary in the space where they live, but a physical home can also be different from the places that truly make us feel at home. The place where you feel most at ease, most yourself, could be the kitchen in your childhood house, snuggled into the familiar corner of your best friend’s sofa, or a place you’ve never lived but that you always gravitate back to when you’re seeking peace. Antoni Porowski travels often – for work, special events and personal enjoyment – navigating in and out of different regions and cultures and the varying responsibilities he has while in those places. But inevitably, eventually, it’s time to come home.

With her own busy schedule of travel, work, events and personal commitments, Mary Celeste Beall never takes for granted the deep comfort that overtakes her each time she returns home to Blackberry Farm. It’s also a feeling she and the Blackberry team try to evoke for every guest that visits. They may be physically away from where they live, but the goal of hospitality is that they feel right at home. Mary Celeste talked with Antoni about that feeling and where he feels most at home.

Mary Celeste: You’ve lived in New York City for many years now, but you’ve certainly done a lot of traveling within that time and perhaps had a home base in several different places as you filmed TV episodes or worked on other projects. When you think about the idea of “home,” does New York feel like home to you?

Antoni: New York has felt like home since my first night when I moved here some 13 years ago. It was a mattress on the floor of my Brooklyn apartment I shared with two roommates. I decided in that moment that I would never leave. Sure, I’d travel and visit my stomping grounds of Montreal, but New York would be my home base. It was love at first sight, truly. There was an energy in the skyline of Manhattan that made me feel like I was part of something so unique and special, but also humbled by the millions of others I imagined felt the same way. I’m always so excited to travel, be it for work or a personal adventure, but when the return plane is landing and I see the city, my heart skips a beat every time.

Mary Celeste: When you return from travel, especially when you’re returning from a work commitment, what is it about being home that helps you shift your mindset to a state of rest, almost a state of vulnerability, where you can turn off and reset?

Antoni: The corner of my sectional sofa. It’s a custom piece my friend and designer Andrew Torrey made for me. He referenced the French Deco lines of some seating options I loved and made it comfortable. The seat is extra deep, and its armrests are extra wide so you can rest your arm and a drink. The fabric is a great sage-y teddy mohair. After I shower post-plane, of course, and get into old gym shorts and a worn-in tee, I plop in that very corner, light all the candles in the living room, cover myself with a heavy throw, one hand stroking my dog’s enormous head as she lies next to me, and I’m in heaven. It’s where I feel most at peace. The comfort of my own home as the car horns and sirens do their thing in the background.

Mary Celeste: Are there other places in the world that evoke that feeling of home for you? Where do you think of when you need to go somewhere that offers you comfort and space to just be?

Antoni: Ha, I promise I’m not just saying this, but I remember the first time I checked in to one of Blackberry Mountain’s treehouses. I was in town for a speaking engagement and staying at a very corporate hotel. When it dawned on me how close Blackberry Mountain was, I immediately called to see if they had availability, and thankfully they did. The treehouse was minimal but intentionally so. The focus of your eyes goes to the massive floor-to-ceiling windows encapsulating the treetops of the Smoky Mountains. In the morning, when the blinds went up, I could see the fog rolling over the distant mountains. At home, in NYC, I have all my books, records, photos and mementos from my travels, but at the Mountain, I felt like I was living in a meditation, focusing only on what was in front of me. That’s why I’ve been going back ever since.

Mary Celeste: Ah, then we have succeeded! I love hearing that. You’re embarking on a new and very exciting adventure with the “No Taste Like Home” series with National Geographic! It sounds like you’ll get to engage with other people in a similar conversation about what home means to them. Why did you feel drawn to this project?

Antoni: Well, it’s quite simple. I have a deep, mutual love for connecting with people and travel, so it was truly a no-brainer. We developed the show with Nat Geo as an epic journey to explore a person’s family history through the lens of food, because at the end of the day, it’s always so much more about the dish we remember from childhood. There’s this dance of personal history, family, heritage and cultural significance which can help us understand why we are the way we are, why our parents are a certain way, our grandparents, et cetera.

Mary Celeste: I know that your Polish heritage is really important to you and that you actively work to incorporate it into your life. How does that sense of pride in your lineage and interest in your heritage help you define what home is to you? How do you keep it alive in your life as you shift through a more American-driven culture?

Antoni: I think my pride in my Polish heritage has been a work in progress. As a kid, it wasn’t exactly cool to have kielbasa and cabbage for lunch. As I grew older, I found myself appreciating the parts of me I tried to squash as a young kid. When I think about my heritage, I think of past visits to Poland as a kid, visits to the Baltic Ocean, walking through the streets of Warsaw and just feeling like I belonged there even though I never lived in Poland – I was the first one in my family born outside of Europe, in Montreal, Canada. I don’t know how strong a link I can find between my heritage and sense of home now, but maybe it explains my strong leaning towards anything evoking a sense of nostalgia, be it an old t-shirt, a band I listened to in college or the taste of marjoram in cabbage soup.

Americans are so future-focused. It’s all about what’s next. While I consider myself ambitious, I do find comfort in looking back. That’s why my home is filled with past relics. When I’m alone, I like to spend some time thinking about how far I’ve come, how much I’ve changed and how I’m still the same.

Mary Celeste: What’s the dish that comes to mind if you wanted to tell your family’s – or your personal – food story and share your own taste of home?

Antoni: Bigos. It’s a hunter’s stew with cabbage, sauerkraut, different cuts of kielbasa, pork, bacon, prunes (they add sweetness and fall apart so you don’t even know they’re there), rehydrated dried wild mushroom and red wine. That over rye bread with cold nobs of butter, and I’m in heaven. After swim practices or ski days with my parents, it was the best way to end a cold day.

Mary Celeste: When you are inviting people to your table, what do you do as a host to try and make your guests feel that they are at home there? Do you host with a “make yourself at home” atmosphere where you hope they’ll feel free to really get comfortable, or do you want them to sit back and feel like they are being taken care of?

Antoni: Candles, mood lighting, snacks on the kitchen counter and some music – either jazz or something instrumental. I think it’s a mix of both, and it depends on the circumstance. If it’s a friend going through something, I tell them to sit down and make sure they don’t even have to think. If it’s a casual get together for drinks, I let them fend for themselves, but provide a proper bar and food, for sure.

Mary Celeste: The kitchen and the table naturally come to mind when I think about bringing people together in my home, but prioritizing time for me and my personal wellness is a huge part of my process when I return home from exciting trips or long work days. Beyond cooking and sharing meals, what do you do to ground yourself and get back to your center? Do you have any rituals, exercise activities or traditions that you always do when you’re home?

Antoni: I get right back to my rituals – workouts, meditation practice, my morning four soft scrambled eggs with chives and offensive amounts of cracked pepper. I need to get back to my routine. That also includes walks with my dog to my favorite park, coffee shop, grocery store. I love my creature comforts.