No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski (2025) s01e01 Episode Script

1
[Antoni Porowski]
I'm Antoni Porowski.
-[worker] Hello, friend.
-Hello.
[Antoni]
And as a son of immigrants,
-I know that food
-Whoo!
can tell you more
about who you are
Nothing makes me feel
more Polish than this.
and where
you've come from
-This is it.
-than you ever imagined.
So now, I'm leading
six curious Hollywood stars.
-Are you excited for this?
-Yeah.
[Antoni] on their very own
journeys of a lifetime.
I've been waiting
for this moment my entire life.
[Antoni] I'll be delving into
their family histories
[gasps]
-Florence?
-Yeah.
[Antoni] and tracking
down culinary clues
Oh my gosh, it's so good.
[Antoni]
to unlock the past.
It almost feels unreal to think
that I descend from a king.
[Antoni]
And it all begins
-Yeah!
-For you, Nonna.
-[Antoni] with just one
-Mm.
-[laughing]
-[Antoni] family recipe.
-[kissing noise]
-[Antoni] It's crispy.
Mm!
-[photographer] Florence!
-[Antoni] This time,
Florence Pugh,
star of Dune Two,
Oppenheimer,
and Little Women
[Florence] Cheers.
I'd to say thanks
for the love of food, guys.
Cheers.
[Antoni] goes on
an epic journey in England.
Oh, hang on,
you cheeky sausages.
-[laughing]
-Whoa.
-Oh, this is so satisfying.
-It is, right?
Oh, I could do this all day.
[Antoni] where we cook
and taste our way
to some shocking discoveries.
Do you see those
two buildings over there?
Those are the workhouses
that they were in.
[Antoni]
and powerful revelations.
They were kind of escaping,
and they decided to come here
for a better life.
-No.
-Mm-hmm.
[bell tolling]
[Antoni] I've decided to start
our ancestral adventure
in the ancient
English city of Oxford,
because this is where
Florence grew up.
[bicycle bell ringing]
-Wow.
-Yeah.
Okay, so tell me
about this place.
-This is the covered market.
-Okay.
And it's been open since 1774.
Seventeen oh, you, like,
know the facts.
-I actually know, yeah.
-Okay.
This is like one of our jewels
in Oxford.
-Wow.
-Mm-hmm.
-Would you come here as a kid?
-Yeah, all the time.
The flower shop that
we're actually going to
-is really, really beautiful.
-Mm-hmm.
And the butchers
was very special.
I love that as a kid,
you were like,
"I love going
to the butcher."
[both laughing]
I'm understanding more and more
the type of person you are.
I'm loving it.
Acting may be
Florence's first love,
but food has always come
a close second.
It's a passion shared
by her whole family.
My granny will be so surprised
that you bought her flowers.
Really?
And today, we're joining
Florence's mum
Thank you so much.
and Grandma for lunch.
Anything I should know?
[Florence]
We're all very bossy.
-Yay.
-[laughter]
[Grandma Pat]
A tick early, then?
We've come
bearing flowers.
-How lovely.
-[Antoni] Hello.
Today, Granny Pat is hosting.
-And flowers for you.
-Oh, that's so kind.
With help from Mom,
Deborah.
[Florence]
And flowers.
[Deborah]
Look at them.
[Antoni laughing]
Mama, do you want me
to chop up an onion real quick,
and then you can be
in charge of the pan?
[Deborah]
If you'd like to do that.
Well, I can probably do that
quite a bit quicker.
What, quicker than me?
I really love how quickly
we're getting into it.
Sorry.
[laughing]
We're gonna make
shepherd's pie.
-Okay.
-[burner clicking]
[Antoni] This ancient dish
has been passed down
in the family for generations,
and its name
gives a hint
of its star ingredient, lamb.
[Deborah] You'd have
the steak or the chops,
and then all
the bits left behind,
you would mince,
wouldn't you?
-[Antoni] Yeah, yeah.
-But nowadays, I don't think
they put the ears
and the testicles in.
[Florence laughing]
You would love those,
wouldn't you?
You would love those.
I thought you
were talking to Florence, then.
[laughter]
[Antoni] The ground lamb
is mixed with vegetables
and topped
with mashed potato.
But beyond that, well,
it depends on who you ask.
Are tomatoes traditional
in shepherd's pie?
-No.
-Okay.
I wouldn't put them in,
but I do put tomato puree in.
So, we're having an argument
about that, that's fine.
Florence likes
to put tomatoes in.
-The puree is brilliant.
-Tinned tomatoes
-go well, as well.
-See, Granny says
tinned tomatoes go well.
Yeah, all right.
That's fine.
We all disagree.
It makes it
more interesting
that you all have
different opinions.
It's just, we all think that
our recipe is the best.
[laughing]
[Antoni] It's striking
how passionate Florence,
her mum, and her gran are about
how this dish should be made.
I'm really getting a sense
of just how seriously
they take their cooking.
So, I see that
the women in this family
are very much into food.
What about your dad, Florence?
Daddy's equally into food.
Grew up in a pub,
and from the moment he could,
he's been running
restaurants, so
-Oh, wow.
-Food and hosting
has been a massive part
of our lives.
[Antoni]
While raising their children,
Clinton ran the restaurants
and Deborah taught dance.
But despite their busy lives,
the family always came together
for a daily home-cooked dinner.
[Deborah]
This is the kind of thing
I would have made for the kids.
You can put vegetables in
and children don't notice.
[chuckles]
[Florence] As kids, we'd always
be bringing food to the table,
getting the cutlery ready,
-or getting the glasses ready.
-[Deborah] Yeah.
[Florence]
It was always a family affair.
-It's not just the food.
-Right.
It's about bringing people in,
and it's about
cooking for people.
You know, the stakes were high,
but in a great way.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] Knowing how much
every meal means in this family
has only made me more eager
to taste our lunch.
Should we check
on the shepherd's pie?
[Florence]
It smells like shepherd's.
I smell it.
I smell it.
-[Florence gasps]
-[Antoni] Gorgeous.
-Wow, look at that.
-Oh my gosh, the browning.
-[Pat] There's a lovely color.
-[Antoni] I'm so excited.
-[crunching]
-Oh, do you hear that?
Oh, I like it.
Very good crunch.
-Is it juicy enough?
-Oh, it's
-[Antoni] Oh, yeah.
-It's juicy, Mum.
Thank you.
Oh my gosh.
Mm!
Mm.
Oh, all those beautiful layers.
My goodness.
[Deborah] And isn't it amazing
to think that tomorrow
-it'll be twice as good.
-[Antoni laughing]
And then the day after that,
three times as good.
It's still pretty good
right now, I have to say.
It's just the flavors
just get better
-and better and better.
-Of course.
[Antoni]
This hearty no-nonsense dish
is comfort food at its finest,
and a delicious first taste
of Florence's
culinary heritage.
So, Florence,
as we start our journey,
what do you hope
to gain from this?
"A," obviously, find out
the history of my family,
find out the food history
of my family.
-Mm-hmm.
-And, equally,
we have so much love for food,
so I want to see where
the passion of food came from.
[Antoni] It looks like
we have lots to explore,
and this shepherd's pie
is our first clue.
What do you know
about your family history?
Just that my father
was from Thirsk, in Yorkshire.
I used to go to Thirsk
quite a lot
when I was, you know,
four, five, six,
and Yorkshire
was a lovely county.
-[Antoni] Mm.
-Yes.
I'm excited to dig into that.
Speaking of digging in
-[dog whimpering]
-Billy, you are missing out.
-[laughter]
-She's like, "I know."
[Antoni] So, Florence has some
big questions about food
and her family history,
and now, we have somewhere
to start looking for answers.
The historic county of
Yorkshire in Northern England
has Thirsk at its very heart.
And digging into the archives,
I've discovered
Granny Pat's ancestors
have deep roots in this famous
sheep-rearing region.
Easy to see
why shepherd's pie
would be such
a family favorite.
[sheep bleating]
So, here we are, this is where
the journey kinda starts.
I feel at one with the sheep.
-Ta-da.
-[laughter]
[Antoni]
Here they are.
Your great-great-
great-grandfather
-Right.
-on your maternal side,
a man by the name
of James Tose.
He was raised in a village
very close to here.
Not only was Florence's
great-great-great-grandfather,
James Tose,
from a farming family,
but by 1879,
the records reveal
he was also the landlord
of a Thirsk pub,
the Red Bear,
where he served something
these Yorkshire hills
could supply in abundance.
He was famous
for his mutton chops.
He prepared them
for, like, cricket teams,
for these, like, stately homes,
a bit of, like,
catering as well.
-So, he was a bit of a chef.
-He was a bit of a chef, yeah.
That's cool.
[Antoni]
Famed for his hospitality,
James even made the papers
when his chops
fueled one man's challenge
to push a wheelbarrow
across the country.
Everyone wanted a taste
-Of James Tose mutton chops?
-of James Tose mutton chops.
[Antoni] To understand
what made the meat
James cooked so delicious,
I need Florence
to see how sheep here were
reared in his family's day.
-Hello.
-Hello.
-Hi.
-How are you doing?
[Antoni] Like James Tose,
Tommy Banks is a pub chef
whose parents also own a farm,
and they've agreed to show us.
-Lovely to meet you.
-Lovely to see you.
Welcome to Yorkshire.
[Antoni] I feel like I've only
seen sheep since I've been here.
-Why is that?
-[Tommy's dad] So many sheep.
-Thousands of sheep.
-Yeah.
Sheep are the things
that survive
so well on this sort of country.
[Antoni]
With nothing to do all day
but graze the evergreen
Yorkshire grass
that gives them
their distinctive taste,
it's not long
before these sheep
finish off every
edible blade in a field.
I'm gonna make you work
for your supper today.
We've gotta move the sheep up
to get them fed.
[Antoni]
A skill James Tose
would have been
very familiar with.
If they start moving,
we're gonna go with them.
-Come on, stay with the fam.
-Uh-oh.
Oh, look at that one running!
[Florence] Oh, hang on,
you cheeky sausages!
[Tommy's dad] You won't
be able to keep them.
You go up the hill a bit,
Antoni.
-Up the hill, Antoni.
-Go up the hill,
and you'll hold 'em back.
[Florence laughing]
-[Tommy's dad] Here we go.
-[Florence] Come on.
[Tommy's dad] No, I think
they settled down now.
[Florence]
They're all smiling.
[Antoni] Finally,
we've got these sheep
to their new source
of sustenance.
And with the flock
happily grazing
Do you guys want
to come in and have some food?
-Let's have some of your food.
-Yes!
[Antoni]
We are heading to Tommy's pub
to sample a Yorkshire dish
James Tose would
certainly have known.
-Oh.
-What a beaut oh!
[Antoni]
And this is just the beginning.
[Florence]
I want that bit.
That is beautiful.
That smells insane.
[Antoni] The star attraction
on Chef Tommy's pub menu
might not be
the Yorkshire mutton
Florence's ancestor,
James Tose, cooked.
-Yum.
-[laughing]
[Antoni] But it's pretty close,
because this is hogget.
Lamb, everyone's familiar with,
young sheep.
Hogget are animals
which are over a year old.
And then, when they get to two,
they become known as mutton.
And when you fed them on grass,
I mean, they just have
this most incredible flavor.
[Antoni]
Mm-hmm.
In James Tose's day,
Yorkshire may have had sheep
in abundance,
but farmers were thrifty.
They wanted to make
the most of their livestock,
and this led to the creation
of a very famous accompaniment
to their delicious meat.
[Tommy] As the meat rests,
you've got all this lovely fat
that's rendered out of it,
and that's what you make
Yorkshire puddings out of.
So, have you made
Yorkshire puddings before?
-[Florence] I have, yeah.
-[Antoni] Never.
-Yeah.
-[Florence] They're very fun
'cause they just
poof up in the oven,
and sometimes even
the weird-looking ones
-are the best.
-[laughing]
[Antoni]
Despite their name,
Yorkshire puddings
aren't desserts.
They're a savory dish.
James Tose would have
been an expert
in taking the meat dripping.
So, you need
a nice amount of fat
-Oh, wow, yeah.
-because that's gonna soak
into the bottom.
That goes in the oven.
[Florence]
Great.
[Antoni]
Making an egg batter.
I actually whisk
the wrong way around.
-Is there a right way?
-Supposed to go that way.
-There you go.
-That is so weird.
[Antoni]
And combining the two
They look like
deep-fried little pancakes.
before the mix
hits the oven to rise.
[Florence]
Oh my goodness.
[Antoni]
Which amazingly, it does,
powered purely by the steam
created by the hot oil.
-There's no baking soda in here.
-[Tommy] No.
-So, it's all about the heat.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] Once cooked,
the puddings will be filled
with a rich
hogget shoulder stew.
But that's not all.
[Tommy] So, we're cooking a dish
which I hope pays homage
to your
great-great-great-grandad?
-Yes.
-I believe he was famous
for cooking mutton chops
-Yep.
-in his pub.
So, I'm gonna cook
some hogget chops.
Oh, did you see
the browning on that?
I did, I did.
-This is exciting.
-[Antoni] I know.
Mm.
[Antoni] But in Tose's day,
even this festival of hogget
wouldn't have been complete
without an extra flourish.
So, there's a traditional
thing in Yorkshire
that not many people
sort of do anymore,
called Yorkshire salad.
It's pretty simple.
Basically involves mint,
and lettuce, and onion.
This is exactly what James Tose
would have had,
super traditional thing.
I mean, lamb and mint
[sputtering]
my all-time favorite
flavor combination, I think.
-[Antoni] Right?
-[Tommy] Like, it works.
-So, Yorkshire puddings.
-[Antoni] Yes.
-Oh, yes.
-[Florence] Stop it.
I'm shocked at how much
they've grown.
Oh, I'm happy
with those.
[Florence]
They look like flowers.
I have never seen
anything like this in my life.
Wow.
You can see
the blistering on the outside.
-[Florence] Yes.
-You would never achieve that
if you didn't have
all that lovely fat.
[Florence] You could put that
in your bra, actually.
-[Antoni] In a what?
-Put it in your bra.
-[laughing]
-You'd go into work a double-D,
-and then leave work an A.
-[laughter]
'Cause you've had it
for your lunch.
-Yeah.
-[laughter]
[Tommy]
I just think if you come in
from the cold into a pub,
that is what you want.
[Antoni]
In honor of Mister Tose.
[Florence]
Mm!
[Antoni]
Oh, my God. Wow.
-[Bleep]!
-This is incredible.
-It's so tender.
-It's so soft.
That is amazing.
I think people would assume,
older animal, tough.
-Yeah.
-That's exactly what I thought.
There's nothing tough
about that.
This is more tender
than most, like,
-lamb that I've had.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] Pure melt-in-the-mouth
perfection.
Mm!
[Antoni] This is what
centuries-old
farming traditions
and Yorkshire's green,
green grass gives you.
I'm gonna squat.
Ready?
[Antoni laughing]
-Mm!
-[laughing and clapping]
[Tommy] This is food
that transcends time.
This was delicious in 1870,
it's gonna be delicious in 2070.
Yeah.
If James made this,
-no wonder he was a wonder.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] As is traditional
with English pubs,
James Tose's Red Bear
would have been the center
of his community's life.
And hosting
with meals this good
Mm!
this famously
hospitable chef
must surely have been every bit
as passionate about food
as Florence
and her modern-day family.
You've been walking
in the environment
where James would have been.
Are you starting to get a sense
of what his life
was kind of like?
-Yeah.
-Mm-hmm.
And it's just really cool
and amazing to see
that in my family, to host,
and to provide, and to feed,
I mean, clearly is something
that runs true
-through many generations.
-Yeah.
I know it's tricky
to kind of understand
what a great-great-
great-grandfather
looks like to you
in a personal way.
If you look
at your Granny Pat.
-Yeah.
-Her grandma
-Yeah?
-was his daughter.
-Does that make it
-That's not that far away.
No. No.
-Cheers, darling.
-Ah.
So glad
you're from these parts.
[both laughing]
[Antoni] With Florence's family
so big on food and hospitality,
it's surprising
Granny Pat knew nothing
about James Tose and his pub.
-Excited for tomorrow?
-What comes next?
[Antoni] But I found
something in the archives
that might explain why.
♪♪
[Antoni] Oh.
-Look at that little bridge.
-That is so pretty!
-Oh, my God.
-Wow.
[Antoni] Florence and I
are leaving Yorkshire's hills,
because combing
through the archives,
I've discovered that in 1883,
her ancestor James Tose's life
took a dramatic turn.
Okay, so before I tell you
where we're headed,
-let's do a little recap.
-Okay.
All right, so yesterday,
we learned
your three-times
great-grandfather James Tose
-Yes.
-opened up the Red Bear.
[Florence] Yeah.
Family business.
But after that, things took
a turn, unfortunately.
Oh, no.
-"The curious affair at Thirsk."
-Yeah.
This really crazy thing
happened at the Red Bear.
Someone fell out of a window
in the middle of the night.
There's so much that
we don't know about this.
I mean, there could have been
a payout involved.
He had to file for bankruptcy,
and he lost the Red Bear.
Oh my goodness.
[Antoni] With a family
of four to support,
James needed a job fast.
And again, he turned to food.
-He decided he was gonna adapt.
-Okay.
And so, he decided
to become a fishmonger.
Wow.
I'm proud of James.
And we're gonna learn about
the importance of fish today.
Love fish.
[Antoni] Just 40 miles from
James' hometown, Thirsk,
lies the seaside town
of Whitby.
And in James' day here,
fish were big business.
In the late 1800s, Whitby
was actually one of, like,
the major fish ports
of the north of the UK.
-Whitby was?
-Yeah.
[Antoni]
Whitby was famous, above all,
for its huge hauls of cheap,
nutritious herring,
which locals made something
very special with
kippers.
-Are we going in there?
-Should we check it out?
-Are we actually?
-Let's check it out.
[gasps]
You're joking.
-We've been
-Let's check it out.
smelling it
all the way here.
-Hi.
-Hello.
-I'm Florence.
-Florence, pleased to meet you.
-Lovely to meet you.
-It's good to see you, Barry.
Thank you so much
for having us.
Welcome.
Okay, so for someone
who doesn't understand,
what's the difference between
kipper and herring?
[Barry]
A kipper is a smoked herring.
So, that would be the herring
before it's smoked.
-Okay, mm-hmm.
-And that would be kipper.
-[Florence] Wow.
-[Antoni] Oh. Gorgeous.
-[Florence] It's amazing.
-Oh, that looks beautiful.
[Antoni] Smoked kippers
last up to 10 times longer
than fresh herring,
perfect for an age
before refrigerators.
James Tose would have
sold them by the bucketload.
Kippers were like
a staple part of the diet then.
Wow.
[Antoni] Barry Brown's family
have been making kippers
for six generations.
We established 1872.
So, maybe
our ancestors mingled.
-[laughing]
-Probably and possibly, yeah.
-[Antoni] Yeah.
-[laughing]
[Antoni] And today,
Barry's agreed
to share the secrets
of traditional
kipper production with us.
-[laughing]
-Whoa.
That is art.
The Brown family have turned
herring into kippers here
for more than 150 years.
And Barry still follows exactly
the same hallowed process.
These have all been
butterflied and brined.
-[Florence] Okay.
-Ready for hanging on hooks.
And we start off
with one fish on,
and just work
our way across it.
Wow. Okay.
Can I give it a go?
[laughter]
-Is that okay?
-Here.
-So, I'll explain first.
-Okay.
Put your fish up
and open it up.
Yeah.
And then just
open your fingers,
touch the bottom
of the hook.
Touch the bottom
of the hook, yeah.
And then just pin it on.
Yeah, like that?
Oh, too high.
-Too high.
-Too high?
-Take it off.
-Just about there, to its gill.
-Like that?
-Yeah.
-Oh, this is so satisfying.
-It is. It is, right?
Oh, I could do this all day.
-Do you have any openings?
-[laughing]
I actually would.
[Antoni] Hollywood actress
she might be,
but it seems Florence shares
plenty of James Tose's DNA.
It's like we've been
doing this forever.
[Barry] It is.
You're naturals.
[Florence]
Thank you.
[Antoni]
The next stage of kippering
is to hang up the fish
and smoke it
And then,
the darker wood is all oak.
[Antoni]
Right.
for a full 20 hours.
And that's safe
just to leave?
Yeah, we just leave that.
[Antoni] Seeing the pride
with which Barry
follows this age-old
kippering ritual
has been a real privilege.
[Florence] May I take a picture
of you in front of your fish?
-Of course.
-[Antoni gasps]
-Oh, this is amazing.
-[camera clicking]
-[Antoni] There we go.
-[Florence] Yes.
Thank you.
Thanks for having us.
[Antoni] And now,
as our day draws to a close,
we're heading to a café
down the road.
-[Florence laughing]
-Whoa.
-[server] Here we go, guys.
-[gasps] Oh my goodness.
Two kipper sandwiches.
[Antoni] For kippers served
just the way James Tose
would have enjoyed them,
sandwiched in white bread.
Are we ready?
Mm.
That is good.
Flakey.
It's very rich.
[Florence] So rich.
It feels like it's doing good
-to your bones and your skin.
-Mm-hmm.
It is pretty incredible,
if you think about it.
This tastes exactly the same
as it did in James Tose's time.
-Yeah.
-Mm-hmm.
It's so smooth and silky.
Not just fish.
It's the best fish.
-[Antoni] The best fish.
-[laughter]
Wow.
At first, I was kinda surprised
when I found out
James Tose pivoted
from an innkeeper
-to being a fishmonger.
-Mm-hmm.
Providing people
with comfort and food,
and it's that notion
which I feel like is something
that's so central
to who you are as a person.
Totally, and the lengths you go
for good and delicious produce.
Mm-hmm.
That's a really,
really wonderful gift.
Yeah.
Here in Yorkshire,
we've discovered deep roots
for Florence's family's
passion for ingredients
and love
of cooking and hosting.
But now, we're moving on
to a side of the family
whose story is not
one of plenty
but of hunger and a fight
for their very survival.
[ship horn blowing]
Okay, so I have
a little surprise for you,
'cause I love
a dramatic entrance.
What's the surprise?
Three, two, one.
[Florence]
It's opening!
Oh my goodness.
It's beautiful.
[Antoni]
In our search for the source
of her family's passion
for food,
I'm taking Florence along
the mighty Thames River
into London, the UK's capital
and her current home.
Hi!
-Aw.
-[laughing]
[Antoni] Florence's
father's family hail from here
and I want to share
a fascinating discovery
on dad Clinton's side,
about Florence's
great-great-great-grandparents,
Mauritz and Anna Maria,
and their daughter Johannah.
Now, I can officially say
that the Tower Bridge
of London opened.
-For you.
-[laughing]
Well, for our boat.
-[Antoni] For our boat.
-For our boat. Wow.
[ship horn blowing]
[Antoni] What do you know
in terms of your family history,
like, the countries from where
your ancestors came from?
To my knowledge,
we are from here.
-We're from England.
-From here.
But I don't know.
We don't know.
Okay.
So, 1860s, a man
by the name of Mauritz
-and his wife Anna Maria
-Yeah.
came with their
young daughter, Johannah,
and they came from Rotterdam,
right down here,
on a boat kind of like this.
Okay.
So, your London roots actually
come from a Dutch family line.
-No!
-Mm-hmm.
I've got a little bit
of a cocktail going on.
Yeah.
-Oh, I love that.
-Mm-hmm.
[Antoni] A growing
industrial city,
London in the 1860s
was a magnet
for immigrants
seeking a better life.
And Florence's ancestors,
Mauritz and Anna Maria,
had more reason
than most to want that.
But they basically
fled the Netherlands
'cause it was, like, pretty
extreme poverty going on there.
-Right.
-We did find records
of one of Mauritz's parents
being caught for petty theft,
which was usually
attributed to
-Right, hungry.
-probably like stealing food.
-Hunger. Yeah.
-Yeah.
So, they were escaping,
and they decided to come here.
-Wow.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] In Victorian London,
working-class families
like Mauritz and Anna Maria's
rarely had kitchens.
Instead, they were fed
by over 6,000 street vendors
offering everything from
pea soup to jellied eels.
But one of the most popular
and affordable meals
was something that today
is considered a real delicacy.
So, my family's been
growing oysters in Essex,
-in England for
-Wow.
about 300 years now.
[Antoni] And someone who knows
all about it is Tom Howard.
In the 1700s, my fifth
great-grandfather's side,
cultivating farming oysters
and then shipping them
up the Thames into London.
And we are, I think,
the oldest oyster-farming
family in the world.
-[gasps]
-Really?
Yeah, yeah.
[Antoni] Farmed and fished
in the Thames estuary,
oysters provided a vital source
of cheap protein for the poor.
You could buy two dozen for
the price of a loaf of bread.
For context, at the moment,
I sell about
one and a half million
oysters a year.
-Geez!
-They were doing that in a week.
Oh!
So, it's very likely
that your ancestors
were eating the oysters
that my family grew.
-I love that. That's amazing.
-It's really, really likely.
[Florence]
That's really cool.
[Antoni] In Mauritz
and Anna Maria's time,
London's Columbia Road
was packed
with working-class families.
And today,
you can still see traces
of the Victorian world
they'd have known.
But you're gonna see
something here,
which is kind of quintessential
of what we've been
talking about, really.
-Oh my gosh.
-Wow.
[Antoni]
Including, you guessed it,
an oyster stall.
This is Connor, who I supply
quite a few thousand oysters
to each week.
-Do you?
-Yeah, yeah.
-Oh!
-Hello.
-Wow.
-What a great date spot.
-[Antoni] Okay, what do we have?
-[Florence] Yeah.
[Connor] We've got some
of the finest oysters
that Tom and his family
have to offer.
These are the native
flathead European,
so called because they grow
naturally in Europe.
So, my ancestors ate
-probably a lot of these?
-Yes, true.
How would they have
eaten them back in 1860?
So, they would have
put it into stews,
-Oh, I see.
-Into pies.
But they would have
also eaten them raw,
and they would have been a huge
staple part of their diet.
-[Antoni] Should we try some?
-Absolutely.
[Antoni]
Now, just as in the 1800s,
the first thing you need to do
with an oyster is open it.
[Connor] And maybe,
if you're feeling brave enough,
you can give it a go yourself.
Okay, let's do this.
[Antoni] A process
that's called shucking.
-[laughter]
-[Florence] Okay, so my hand
-is going on top of that.
-Very, very firm, yeah.
Popping it in that hole.
This feels so dangerous.
It probably is.
[Antoni] Thankfully,
modern oyster stalls
do at least come
with safety gloves.
-[grunting]
-[Connor] Be careful, though.
Trying to pull
the chain mail up.
[laughter]
-I think if you just turned it.
-Yeah?
-Pop hey!
-[Antoni gasps]
-I did it. Whoo!
-Perfect.
-Magic!
-[laughing]
It's in her genes.
Look how pretty that is,
it looks like a flower.
[laughter]
Mm!
They're quite sweet, actually.
Almost like a rich treat.
-Thank you so much.
-Thank you.
[Antoni]
Today's taste of Florence's
great-great-great-grandparents
Mauritz and Anna Maria's diet
has been a real delight.
[both]
Mm!
But now, I want to turn
to their daughter
and her family.
So, remember,
we were introduced
-to little Johannah today?
-Yes.
Well, she grew up
and she met a man,
a Welshman by the name
of Louis Pugh.
That's where the Pugh came in!
That's where the Pugh came in.
And they got married.
And this is their daughter's
act of birth.
Do you see her name?
[gasps]
-No!
-Yeah!
-Florence?
-Yeah!
Florence Pugh,
so there's already been
I feel quite emotional.
There's already been
a Florence Pugh.
She was born the 25th
of November, 1882.
-That's crazy.
-Your parents never mentioned
-anything or grandparents about?
-No. No.
No idea.
My parents had no idea.
-Really?
-No, I was named after the city.
-My mum's gonna scream.
-Aw!
[Antoni] We've got
a lot more to explore
about the Pughs of the 1800s.
Let's have a toast
to Florence.
Ooh.
Because I've unearthed
something extraordinary
that could explain
why food means so much
to Florence's
modern-day family.
Every day must be so much
information to take in.
-Mm.
-But I'm always curious about,
-like, what sticks.
-Yeah, I mean,
my reaction yesterday
was utter shock.
I'm so intrigued that
there was another Florence.
-Right.
-And where is she?
Where did she go?
Where did she live?
-Did she have children?
-Yeah.
Florence is bursting
with questions
about her
19th-century namesake.
And to find out what happened
to her and her family
[Florence]
Saint Pancras gardens.
Mystery continues.
[Antoni] I'm taking
Florence to the place
they ended up after a series
of unfortunate events.
So, at the time,
because of the air quality
and the pollution here,
the quality of life
was really tough.
Little Florence,
unfortunately,
just shy of her
fifth birthday
-[gasps]
-passed away.
No.
Most probably
from tuberculosis.
That was the case
of most children in those times.
Oh, no.
Whoa.
-[stuttering] Okay.
-Yeah.
Wait, what?
You wanted to say something.
So, this is also
just very strange,
because I had many struggles
growing up with my breathing,
and constantly being ill and
going in and out of hospitals.
My gosh.
I wasn't supposed to live.
When I was born,
they told my parents
that I
that it wasn't gonna happen,
and just, like, enjoy the time
whilst you have it.
[Antoni] Little Florence's
story has struck a chord.
Her parents did go on to have
another daughter, Alice,
but then the family was hit
by tragedy again.
-So, unfortunately
-Alice didn't die, did she?
No.
Johannah, the mother.
-[gasps] No!
-She passed away,
and Alice went into a workhouse.
That's really bleak.
Do you see those
two buildings over there?
-Yeah.
-So, those are the workhouses.
-[gasps]
-That she was in.
Workhouses gave the poor
and destitute shelter
in exchange for work.
Conditions were
notoriously bad.
Forced child labor,
malnutrition,
and beatings were common.
This, Saint Pancras workhouse,
was one of nearly 50
such institutions in London.
Oof, that's a tough
that's a heavy
-That's heavy.
-Yeah.
Isn't it crazy
how you can live in a city
and walk past something,
and have no idea
that your relatives
spent such a large portion
-of their life right there?
-Right.
[Antoni] Alice stayed at
Saint Pancras workhouse
until she was 14.
But then,
her fortunes changed.
And to tell us what happened,
I've invited genealogist
Megan Owens to join us.
-[overlapping greetings]
-Hi. Nice to meet you.
When a family falls on
hard times, the workhouse
-was a place of last resort.
-Right.
So, the workhouse is a dark
-and worrying place.
-Yeah.
But in 1904,
there's a bit of a ray of light,
because Alice was taken
from this workhouse
and sent out
into the countryside.
[Antoni] A dozen miles
outside of London,
Leavesden was home to a school
that taught girls like Alice
a practical curriculum designed
to help them find work.
They learned skills
like laundry,
housework, and cooking.
-Aha.
-Yeah.
So, there's another bit.
Alice learns to cook.
She did really well at that
because she uses that
to advance herself
to move up in the world.
[Antoni] After doing
so well at Leavesden
that she received
a coveted Best Pupil award,
the records reveal
Alice landed a job
for a wealthy London family.
And there's no prizes
for guessing her role.
[Megan]
Alice found work cooking.
-No way.
-Yeah.
-Whoa.
-Yeah.
Opportunity to thrive.
-Yeah, and to learn new skills.
-And to live.
-Exactly.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] As a cook,
Alice would have been a master
at making many different meals.
-I'm so happy you did it.
-[laughter]
[Antoni] But for a taste
of how she'd cater
for one of England's
most famous culinary occasions,
we've come to a tea room
for afternoon tea.
[Megan] Do you know
about the origins of tea time?
Queen Victoria had
a significant lady-in-waiting
in the first few years
of her reign
who felt that it was
a bit too late
to have dinner
between 8 and 9 o'clock,
and so she started having
people for afternoon tea,
and one of those people
was Queen Victoria.
Clever.
And she really got
into the whole concept
of the afternoon tea.
I love another
opportunity to eat.
-[laughter]
-[Antoni] Yeah.
[Antoni] Cake was a centerpiece
of afternoon tea.
One cake in particular
became very popular.
-[Megan] Look at this.
-[Antoni] Thank you so much.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
My goodness.
[Antoni] A fluffy sponge
and whipped cream creation
so beloved by Victoria
That's a Victoria sponge
if ever I've seen one.
[Antoni]
it was named after her.
It's gonna be a mouthful.
[Megan] Alice would have
been excellent
at a bit of cake baking.
So, she would have laid
on this sort of thing, for sure.
[Florence]
Oh, good aim. Mm.
That's beautiful.
-It feels super light.
-[Antoni] Yeah. [laughing]
You can eat this
on a diet, right?
-[Antoni] Oh.
-You can eat it on a diet.
-[laughing]
-Mm-hmm, 'cause it's so light.
Mm.
[Antoni] Thank you
so much for all this.
This is really,
really enlightening.
And just wonderful to hear
your passion about my family.
-Thank you so much.
-Thank you.
[Antoni] It's inspiring
that Alice managed
to escape the tragic
poverty and suffering
of her workhouse childhood
though her passion
and talent for food.
Alice, you know, she made
the best out of, like,
a really unfortunate
life situation.
Well, she had an opportunity
-Yeah.
-Yeah, and she took it.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
She was amazing.
[Antoni] Our culinary adventure
is drawing to a close,
but we do have one last stop.
So, we're seeing
your parents tomorrow.
What are you gonna tell them
about this journey?
I've saved
a few pieces of information.
I haven't told them
about Florence.
-Mm.
-Which will be
-fascinating to hear, yeah.
-I think that'll be really nice.
Yeah, I don't know
how they're gonna take it.
I'm so excited.
Should we celebrate
with one more?
-Oh, you went big!
-[laughing]
-I went aggro. Cheers.
-Cheers.
Mm.
You're adorable.
You really are.
[Antoni] Are you excited
to see the whole fam bam?
Yeah, very excited
to see the fam bam.
Mad fam bam.
What's the energy
gonna be like?
I think it will be loud.
[laughter]
[Antoni] A week ago, Florence
and I set out to explore
the roots of her family's
passion for food.
-[Florence] Home, sweet home.
-Let's do this.
And now, it's time to share
what we've discovered.
-[Florence] Yoohoo!
-Oh, my God.
[Antoni] Nearly the whole gang
have made it,
including restaurateur dad,
Clinton.
Hi, Dad.
-Hi, Granny.
-Hello, babe.
[Antoni]
And Florence's brother Toby
with his girlfriend,
Scarlet.
[laughing]
You're pulling my clothes off.
Antoni, nice to meet you.
-Hello! We're reunited.
-[laughing]
Hi, sir, nice to meet you.
This being the Pugh family,
we're of course
meeting over food.
And today being Sunday,
we're having one of Britain's
most iconic meals.
So, why are Sunday roasts
so important to your family?
We've always eaten together.
It's very important.
And the Sunday roast
is a particular important thing
that we never never miss.
One of my favorite things
about our Sunday roast,
if we've all been away,
and everybody comes back home,
-it's a bookend to the week.
-Mm.
And it's a time for everybody
to catch up with each other.
-This is like it's a ritual.
-Yeah.
[Antoni] The centerpiece
of a Sunday roast is the meat,
and the most traditional choice
is roast beef.
So, this is Daddy's way
of doing his beef.
Rub a load of oil over here,
and then sprinkle
with a load of the salt.
[Antoni] The beef will soon be
joined in the oven by potatoes.
[Clinton] Have you got
the garlic, Florence?
Yep, right here.
[Antoni] Clinton likes to add
garlic and thyme
before roasting his.
I think the art of the perfect
potato is debatable.
You see, lots of people
come from different angles.
And I would say my potatoes
are now as good as his.
[blows raspberry]
Give over!
-No, Mum.
-So, this is the first fight.
[laughter]
[Antoni] No Sunday roast
would be complete
without seasonal vegetables.
We cook the carrots
with orange juice
-so they get zingy.
-Love. So nice.
And finally, there's a Sunday
roast essential
I'm now very familiar with.
Guys, we're gonna make
Yorkshire puddings.
[Florence]
Yorkshire pudding oh!
We know how
to make this, don't we?
-We do know how to make it.
-We know how to make it.
Funnily enough,
it was one of the things
that we ate
at the beginning of the week.
We had a Yorkshire pudding
cooked in lamb fat.
-Yeah. Yeah.
-Ohh.
[Florence] And we found out
how our ancestor
James Tose cooked
beautiful mutton.
-Oh, yeah?
-[food sizzling]
[Florence] And then,
you have on Dad's side,
Mauritz Becht
and Anna Maria, his wife,
came over from Rotterdam.
They were very hungry,
very poor,
and their
granddaughter's called
[gasps]
No.
-It's Florence.
-Florence Pugh?
There was another Florence Pugh,
and it was in our family,
-and we didn't know about it.
-Florence Pugh.
It gets a little bit weirder.
-She had bronchiole issues.
-Spooky.
And when she was five,
she died.
After that, another child,
Alice Pugh,
ended up going to the workhouse.
But then she learned cooking,
became essentially
the star pupil,
and she got hired by a family
that wanted her
to work in their home.
-Doesn't that sound wild?
-My word.
Isn't that amazing?
[Florence] Okay.
Super, super exciting.
[Antoni] We've given the Pughs
plenty of food for thought.
[Florence] Ooh, you get that one
'cause you're the guest.
-It's huge.
-[laughing]
Granny, this is one
of the smaller ones.
[Antoni]
And talking about food,
the Sunday roast is finally
ready to be served.
Ah, what a spread.
-[Florence] Mm.
-[Scarlet] Whoa.
All right, Florence,
I'm doing a little homage
to how we started our week.
-I'll do it, too.
-A little sandwich
-with some gravy.
-With some beef.
-Ready?
-Mm-hmm.
-Mm.
-[Florence exclaiming]
-Mm.
-[laughing]
That is so good.
-Mm.
-It's great.
[Florence] It's been
so thrilling to find out
about my ancestors.
I love learning
that food has been
this kind of beating drum
throughout many generations
-of both sides of my family.
-Mm-hmm.
[Florence]
Like, looking at Granny's side
of James Tose and his family,
where the enjoyment of living
around and raising food.
And then, also my dad's side
where food was a scarcity.
Alice Pugh, needing to learn
how to cook to earn money,
it makes sense.
-Yeah.
-Like, that all makes sense
that we are the way
that we are.
-Right, right.
-We love providing food.
We love cooking good food.
We love hosting.
-Yeah.
-We maybe didn't know
where that came from,
but actually, like,
it's something
that is clearly
a really important part
-of our genes.
-Yeah.
-I've met my match. Yeah.
-[laughing]
[Antoni] It's been fascinating
uncovering the deep roots
of the Pugh family's
culinary passion,
and I've got a feeling
their infatuation with food
will live on for many
generations to come.
A toast to all the ancestors.
-Cheers.
-Thank you so much
-for having me.
-[all] Cheers.
And I'd like to say thanks
for the love of food, guys.
Can you imagine
if we didn't have it?
-Exactly.
-Misery.
-Misery.
-Misery.
[laughter]
[upbeat string music
playing]