Antoni Porowski Opens Up About Cooking for His Boyfriend — and Life with His New Foster Pup Neon

Antoni Porowski had almost wrapped the first episode of Queer Eye's sixth season in Austin, Texas, when production shut down due to the pandemic.

Opening up to PEOPLE, the Netflix show's resident food and wine expert — who's teaming up with the Verizon Visa Card to help customers get rewards back on groceries and delivery — says he chose to remain in Austin for some time before heading back home to New York.

And because of that decision, the star found his new best friend. Just one day before "everything shut down" in the city, Porowski, 36, went to a shelter and brought home Neon, a foster pitbull beagle mix, to ride out the storm along with his boyfriend, Kevin Harrington.

Almost four months later, Porowski, Harrington and Neon were road-tripping home to New York City, where the reality star has had his "butt in the kitchen" ever since.

Rather than filming for the show, developing his cookbook recipes or just documenting dishes for Instagram, "it's been nice to cook for just the pleasure of cooking," he says.

Though he admittedly does most of the cooking, Porowski says Harrington, an advertising executive, "makes really good eggs." Quips the star: "Apparently he makes a penne vodka, but he has yet to make it for me!"

Porowski is also outspoken about social issues and encourages his fans to get loud about racial injustices. "As soon as you learn about something, it's not that awkward. It's like, if you're talking about Black Lives Matter with your family members who are a little more conservative, that's gonna be awkward at first," he says. "But once you lean into it, you realize it's not that awkward, and it's important."

Like many LGBTQ Americans, Porowski's plans for Pride Month were uprooted in the wake of the novel coronavirus. The chef, who often speaks about his Polish heritage on Queer Eye, was planning to attend Warsaw's pride celebrations to stand with the community.

But when he reflects on the month of June, he hopes aspects of this year's Pride Month will continue for years to come. While in 2019, Porowski celebrated Stonewall's 50th anniversary with his costars, Karamo Brown, Jonathan Van Ness, Bobby Berk and Tan France, this year was all about education and introspection.

"Just learning about Pride, and how the Stonewall riots were started by trans women, it's forced me to have a bit of a much-needed education," says the star, who identifies as sexually fluid.

"Going forward," Porowski continues, "My hope for Pride is that we don't forget what those two years were like, and kind of have more of an amalgamation or a mix of those two, where you really get a moment to reflect, and then celebrate as well."

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