Antoni Porowski Wants You to Talk About Sex — and PrEP — Like You Talk About Food

The ‘Queer Eye’ food expert on destigmatizing sexual health and finding intimacy in the kitchen

Published: November 3, 2025 | Last Updated: November 3, 2025

For Antoni Porowski, conversations about self-care aren’t complete without talking about sex. The “Queer Eye” food-and-wellness expert — who's helped audiences around the world nourish their bodies and minds through vulnerability and a really good vinaigrette — is now helping to destigmatize sexual health through Gilead's Healthysexual campaign.

Porowski joins a growing roster of LGBTQ+ public figures who’ve lent their voices to the campaign, including actors Lukas Gage, Julian Walker and Daniel Franzese.

In our conversation, Porowski opens up about how taking PrEP has deepened his sense of empowerment, why normalizing sexual health discussions is essential for community wellness, and how intimacy — whether it's cooking dinner with his partner in Michigan or simply talking honestly about sex — can be one of the most nourishing acts of all.

You have always been open about growth and self-discovery through “Queer Eye.” It's inspiring to see you extending that openness to sexual health.

Well, thank you for saying that. And I do think that you can't really have one without the other. I think wellness, self-care, taking care of ourselves — whatever we want to call it — is a tree and it has a lot of branches, and along with mental health and watching what we eat and sense of community, sexual health falls into that category. They're all integrated and they all affect each other. So I think it's one that not enough people talk about.

When I first started thinking about taking PrEP, my friends described it as a kind of anxiety drug. And it has actually functioned in that way for me because it has made me feel more empowered sexually. For you, how has taking PrEP empowered you in your own sexual life and given you a newfound sense of confidence?

I really like what you just said about it being sort of tied to anxiety, not in literal terms, but a lessening of. Because of this partnership, what's interesting is I've had a lot of conversations with friends of mine and it's interesting to see the groups that really talk about it versus the ones that don't.

I think this pertains mostly to my gay friends but applies to everybody who has open conversations with not only their friends, but their physicians and their families, but they have a lot more information and are a lot less shy or reticent to talk about it. There's something about normalizing it through that practice and through talking about it that sort of alleviates [the anxiety]. But in terms of your experience of lessening the anxiety, where does that come from? Knowledge is power… or?

Yeah, knowledge is power and trusting science. I grew up during a time when being a gay man meant sex was tied to fear and risk, and that stigma really shaped how I viewed intimacy. Taking PrEP has helped me feel more confident and less anxious about sex.

That's great. I mean, I can definitely relate to that front, but it's also even more than that. I think for me, from my experience, it's really about information. And coming from a family of physicians, there are a lot of things that, as a family, we struggled with. Just communication, overall. But in terms of sexual health, wellness, trusting science, all those kinds of conversations were really ingrained in me since I was very young and whatever questions I had, I was always encouraging my friends to reach out to my dad, who's a physician, who is really good with bedside manner. When you have that information, when you start to learn about the statistics, it gets a little less scary.

And the second part of it is, I think it's important, if you are sexually active, to speak to a physician about your options because PrEP obviously helps prevent HIV to a really high point, but there are obviously so many other STIs and STDs that need to be considered as well. So I certainly don't want people thinking that this is a one [and done]. Hopefully this opens the doors to more conversations. And I think the more you talk about it, it just breeds more curiosity and more opportunity for knowledge. And again, it's speaking to a physician, but also just reaching out to your friends. You never know who needs to hear about it.

Antoni2 — Antoni Porowski. Photo: Evelyn Freja

Whether it’s PrEP, open relationships or even just honest conversations about sex, what’s one thing in queer intimacy that you think still carries too much stigma?

Good question. Not to answer your question with what you brought up, but I do think that it’s just sex in general. I think there are a lot of assumptions that are made in general about our community, about how we're having a lot of sex, versus how we're actually not. The stigma kind of lies in the assumption — and I'll speak for myself — that I have historically made about what it's like to be in a gay relationship: about how much and what kind of sex people are having, when the more people you speak to you realize that it exists on a really massive spectrum, and it's a lot more complex than we actually realize. And what works for somebody may not work for you. Open relationships, zero judgment might work for somebody, but might not work for the person next to them.

What really drew me to this collaboration is the fact that it was an opportunity to advocate for leaning into modern medicine and for reaching out to your physician and speaking to somebody who knows. I have a lot of faults, but I'm good at asking for directions. I'm very quick to be like, “Hey, this is something I don't know about.” There are so many physicians in my family. I'm definitely not one. Terrified of needles, always have been, do not like getting my blood drawn. I'm definitely the black sheep in my family on that front. But that's why I have people who are really, really good at that and more knowledgeable and are able to sort of break it down in a more palatable way. And when I have the information, I feel more equipped and more confident.

And to your point earlier, it lessens the anxiety when you know you have those options and the more that you talk about it, it desensitizes any kind of taboo or preciousness we have around it.

Over time, I’ve realized that straight people are often having the same kinds of sex that gay people have. If our communities talked more openly about that — like, yes, some straight people have anal sex too — we might start to break down a lot of stigma.

Imagine if we just communicated more, you know? That's what it boils down to. And I think there are a lot of misconceptions. I know a lot of couples who are in monogamous gay and straight relationships who take PrEP; they trust their partner. It's not a matter of that. It's just a matter of having that extra safety and that security and that confidence.

For the first time, I'm in a relationship where I can't even believe I'm saying it, we actually cook together. This has never [happened], except in one relationship a long, long time ago.
Antoni Porowski

I want to connect your love of food to all of this by saying you have made food look downright seductive for over 10 years on “Queer Eye.” What's your ultimate sexy food fantasy?

Ooh, a sexy food fantasy. I would say, honestly, at this stage of life that I'm in right now it’s very different than it was a couple of years ago. For the first time, I'm in a relationship where I can't even believe I'm saying it, we actually cook together. This has never happened, except in one relationship a long, long time ago — but in this one, it's something that we sort of collaborate on together, and cooking for me at home has become less performative and has become more of a collaborative conversation where we will literally sit down and discuss what the meal is going to look like — what's our fantasy? What do we want to play out? And then doing it together.

There's something really beautiful and there's an intimacy there that I, working in food for so long, can't believe I've never really experienced, but it's sort of like, wow, this is really hot and really amazing. When you get to do that together, it makes it less of a single man performance and makes it more of a dance, if you will.

And you want specifics? You want the full menu?

Give me the full menu.

Well, last night — so one of my favorite things is ground beef. I'm just obsessed with ground meat. I didn't have a lot of it growing up, and it's so easy to prepare and during the week when I'm really busy, especially when I'm in town, I want something that's nutritious and filling, but I want to keep it really nice and simple. And so I made this dressing that I have been obsessed with since I saw it on TikTok through Baked by Melissa. She brought up this dressing that I've been having at Japanese restaurants forever, which is a shocking amount of fresh turmeric, ginger, carrots. Dump 'em in a blender with some white meat.

So a lot of rice, wine vinegar, a sesame oil, a little bit of water, a lot of lime juice and lemon juice, and an offensive amount of cracked pepper and good honey. And you just blend it and it's this beautiful, tangy, vibrant puree that we just dip and dive in, put over tuna salad, serve with literally anything or toss it with any type of greens. And so I did grass-fed ground beef; I cooked some sushi rice that I folded in. I cooked the sushi rice and bone broth just to get it really sticky with all of that collagen. And then I seasoned it with a little bit of oyster sauce, a little bit of fish sauce, again, a little bit of honey at the end so that it didn't burn.

And we sat yesterday and it was surprisingly romantic, yet a dinner that came together in about 20 minutes, and we just stood at the counter eating butter lettuce cups with this meat rice mixture, and I had herbs on the side of Thai basil and some nice spearmint and cilantro, if you're into that, and some chopped scallion and then just drizzle some sriracha, and it was just food falling off the sides of our mouth. I think that's pretty sexy, but that's what works in my household.

I'm sure that people tell you this, but the way that you talk about food is erotic. It's the language that you use and it’s the way that you talk about it, but you love it.

I love it. I can be having a meal and talking about what the next one is going to be like, and I've been like that through my entire life, and that's a product of my upbringing. For all of our differences in my family, we were always deeply obsessed with food, whether it's going to a restaurant and having something and figuring out how to make it better faster. Was the fish right? Was it cut too thin or thick? And then my mother would go and recreate it, and that's just been kind of part of our narrative growing up, and it's something that I continue to do today and I love to do it with friends because there’s nothing more exciting than leaning into my type-a control freak and having friends over for a communal dinner and being like, no, this is going to be the perfect bite. I love watching it.

How has your new connection to Michigan — where your boyfriend Zacharias Niedzwiecki is from — influenced your sense of home, balance or even creativity?

Well, it certainly helps that he was basically raised learning how to hunt for animals and getting cherries at peak season and all of the wonderful stone fruit and tapping his family's maple trees and processing it. He understands food. And so that's a level of connection, like the respect for food. And especially in those parts of Michigan, I mean, you have people who have farm stands in front of their house where people just leave money and pick up farm eggs or whatever fresh fruit they have.

It's very community-driven. At this stage in my life, since I turned 40 — and it wasn't really planned — I find myself, with the state of the world and with everything that's going on and all the things to be afraid of, leaning into things that bring me comfort, and that's always been community. And sometimes it's with my biological family, sometimes it's with my logical family, my chosen family, now it's with my partner and his, who I had a chance to spend time with, which was amazing. And so food has always been that connective fiber for me. It's always been the easiest way for me to connect with other people. I think especially now, I'm looking for ways to connect with people, whether it's an opportunity like this with Gilead, or whether it's having my buddies over for a nice communal dinner after a yoga class in the afternoon, or even just going out with friends. I think it's something that's been really important to me that's helped me fall asleep a little better at night.

It looked like you were enjoying a really good sandwich in Traverse City based on your Instagram post.

So that was from Vander Farm. I don't think she makes the sandwiches, but it's Zac's sister and she has a sourdough bakery, and you can literally go to her kiosk and pick up sourdough scones with maple glaze from their own maple trees. It's crazy.

The final season of “Queer Eye” takes place in D.C. For you, knowing that the city has been the epicenter of so many political and cultural tensions right now, how did it feel to bring joy and connection to people in D.C. this season?

The epicenter of it, if you will. I mean, we certainly didn't plan that the person who was in office was going to be in office our first season and was going to be in office for our 10th. That was definitely unexpected, for a lot of people. In terms of planning to film in D.C., I'm going to make an assumption that there was an intention there. It would be a really strange coincidence if there weren’t. I've been there visiting during various different political administrations, and it is surprising to see how the energy of that district shifts based on who's there. It definitely brings a little bit of tension. But with that tension, I think there’s opportunity.

And not to bring us full circle, but again, it's like an opportunity to have conversations and to understand where people are at. Because while I am really afraid and I'm terrified of so much that's happening to so many people, at the same time, I still maintain a sense of hope and optimism for the future. I think to quote David Attenborough, maybe not his intention for this specifically, but maybe it was, “We always have to have hope no matter what.”

And it was definitely very emotional. I mean, the season was sort of compressed and stressful to get it all done. You're dealing with the area of Virginia, Maryland, and D.C. and with different laws and where to film. And so that made it a little more challenging for our producers. There would be just random moments where I think it would sort of catch up with everybody where it was like, “Oh, this is the last one. This is going to be my last field trip. This is the last time I get to cook with someone.” And that would just kind of hit us all over the place. So, emotions were zigzagging from joy and excitement to meeting new people and having them have epiphanies about their own lives or realizations or moments of acceptance or really embracing who they are to all of the other stuff in between. So it was just this amalgamation of every emotion possible.

And by the time it all ended — I can't disclose too much about the episodes — but the last scene was set up in a way where it was really celebratory and we were celebrating the hero or heroes in question. And there was this moment of joy and accomplishment, but also a profound sadness to think, oh, we're not going to be doing this, for now. Though never say never to anything. Who knows what's going to happen in a little bit. But there's going to be no shortage — and I say it all the time, but it really is true — of emotions. I mean, we have Jeremiah [Brent] on board, so there's plenty more tears added just because of that alone. But everybody cried at some point or another.

This show has changed our lives and allowed us to have so many opportunities beyond our wildest dreams. I never speak for the group, but I think I can say that confidently. And it's something that we're really proud of and that we're really excited to share with everybody whenever it comes out. Strong assumption: 2026. But that's all I got.