Office for Student Involvement

Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski to speak at Oakland University on Oct. 9

Food and wine connoisseur steps in for fellow Fab Five member Karamo Brown, who will be unable to attend Homecoming event

icon of a calendarOctober 4, 2019

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Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski to speak at Oakland University on Oct. 9
Antoni Porowski
Antoni Porowski

The Student Life Lecture Board at Oakland University will present “An Evening with Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski” on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. in the Oakland Center’s Founders Ballrooms.

Porowski is stepping in for fellow Fab Five member Karamo Brown, who was originally scheduled to speak at the event but will be unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.

“I was supposed to be spending time with you all in a couple weeks but because of my schedule I’m not able to come,” Brown said in a special video message to OU students. “I wanted to send you all a message to say thank you for inviting me. Hopefully I can come out there very soon. Wishing you all the best of luck and sending you so much love. Thank you for thinking of me, I’m thinking of you all. I’m sorry I can’t make it.”

As the Queer Eye food and wine connoisseur, Porowski brings with him a lifelong passion for food and a history of catering private events in and around New York.

Originally from Canada, Porowski was bitten by the culinary bug at a young age as he discovered the joy cooking brings from the likes of Julia Child, Jacques Pépin, Anthony Bourdain, and — most importantly — his own mother.

A self-taught cook, Porowski went to work in restaurants from Montreal to New York City where he continued to hone his craft and find his place in the culinary world. While in New York, Porowski found an inspired mentor in the original Fab Five food and wine expert Ted Allen.

His work with Allen, combined with his university degree in psychology, uniquely influenced his underlying culinary philosophy: food should tell a story and the heart and the stomach are inter-connected.

Since joining Netflix’s Fab Five, Porowski has brought this philosophy at a local-level to The Village Den, the Manhattan eatery where he is part owner, and across the country at speaking engagements among top Universities. His cookbook, Antoni in the Kitchen, was released in September 2019.

Porowski has led campaigns for Hanes, Whole Foods, Boursin Cheese, Vita Coco, Silk Almond Milk, J. Crew, Cointreau, and Excedrin, among others. He has graced the covers of Gay Times, Out Magazine, Attitude Magazine, and Entertainment Weekly, where he and the rest of the Fab Five were listed among 2018’s Entertainers of the Year. A finalist for People’s Choice Reality TV Star of 2018 on his own and winner of Eater’s 2018 #Brand of the Year, Porowski continues to connect with audiences the world over.

“We are very fortunate that Antoni will be coming to OU on very short notice, in place of his Queer Eye friend and work colleague,” said Jean Ann Miller, senior director of the Office for Student Involvement at OU. “I am very excited about Antoni sharing his experiences being a Fab Five on Queer Eyes and his underlying culinary philosophy: food should tell a story and the heart and the stomach are inter-connected.”

Tickets are available at the Office for Student Involvement Service Window, Room 49, in the lower level of the Oakland Center, and are free for OU students, faculty, staff, alumni, and the public. There is a maximum of two tickets per person.

Tickets for Karamo Brown will also be honored at the event.

For more information or to request special assistance, contact the Office for Student Involvement at 248-370-2400 or [email protected].

Additional sponsors of the program are the Oakland University Credit Union and Oakland University’s Gender & Sexuality Center.

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