Henry Golding Dives Into His Iban Heritage In “No Taste Like Home With Antoni Porowski”
Together with celebrity chef Antoni Porowski, Henry Golding traces his long lost Iban family lineage and heritage while enjoying delicious food in Sarawak.
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In 2023, celebrity chef Antoni Porowski was spotted filming for a show in Kuching, Sarawak.
READ MORE: Queer Eye’s Antoni Porowski Is In Kuching! Possibly Filming A Culinary Docuseries
The show in question, No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski, is already out on Disney Plus Hotstar and Malaysia is featured in its sixth episode.
In each episode, Porowski guides a Hollywood celebrity through different countries to learn about the actor’s heritage and culture. The actors who join Porowski on his show get to dive into their lineage and the food that tells their story.
Seeing how much food plays in each family’s culture and history was interesting.
In the episode featuring Malaysia, Porowski was joined by actor Henry Golding, the star of popular films such as Crazy Rich Asians and The Gentleman.
There might be some spoilers although we try not to give much away so be forewarned before reading further.
The episode starts with Porowski meeting Golding’s parents in Surrey, UK where they bonded over an Iban meal prepared by Golding’s mother.
Ever since moving to the UK, the Golding family has lost much family history, especially his mother’s Iban side.
Their mission to unearth Golding’s family history starts in Batang Ai, Sarawak where they met an Iban man named Peter.
Peter explained to Golding that the word Iban means “people” and to track Golding’s maternal relatives, they needed to know which area his mother was from.
After a brief conversation, Peter figured that Golding’s mother was part of the Iban Batang Layar community.
Peter also prepared a delicious dish for them; grilling ikan semah with all ingredients picked from the jungle such as lemongrass, torch ginger, and sour plum (buah maram).
During their meeting, Golding noted that tattoos were a big part of Iban culture, prompting Peter excitedly showing the tattoos all over his body.
For those who do not know, Golding had his “bunga terung” tattoos (pic above) done during his journey in the 2017 Discovery Channel Asia documentary titled Surviving Borneo. An Iban tattoo artist, Ernesto Kalum, did the tattooing at the end of Golding’s “bejalai” journey.
“Bejalai” is described as a voyage of personal discovery every Iban must undergo.
Tracking down distant relatives in Sarawak
Armed with the information from Peter, the next part of the adventure led Porowski and Golding to Kuching. Here, Golding excitedly shared a taste of his childhood, the famous kolo mee, with Porowski.
Porowski loved the dish and its flavours and even asked permission to slurp down the whole bowl.
After the wonderful meal, they journeyed to the Pematoh longhouse where Golding’s distant relative still lived today. It turned out the longhouse Golding’s mother grew up in wasn’t too far from the Pematoh longhouse.
Golding explained to Porowski that once a family is part of the longhouse, they rarely travel to another longhouse to visit extended family members because the longhouse family is vast.
The reunited families bonded by cooking a feast featuring dishes like midin and bamboo sticky rice (asi ruas).
Golding’s relatives shared stories about their family lineage which helped Golding trace it to his great-great-great grandfather’s line.
They discovered that his great-great-great grandmother is a manang, a mediator between two realms or a spiritual healer.
Since the manang role is passed down to family members, Golding shared he had aunties who could see spirits or have precognitive-like dreams.
At the end of the episode, Golding admitted there was a lot of information to take in about his family, especially his family’s history of being fierce headhunters.
The trip has inspired and encouraged Golding to learn more about his Iban lineage and to share them with his mother.
Should you watch No Taste Like Home?
No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski has six episodes and stars celebrities such as Florence Pugh, Awkwafina, James Marsden, Justin Theroux, and Issa Rae.
The show has received praise and positive comments, judging by the reception in Porowski’s Instagram post promoting the series.
Many viewers were touched and resonated by the episode starring Awkwafina. They loved how the show respected each family’s culture and history, especially the food. They shared the episodes inspired them to learn about their family history too.
Viewers have voiced that they want more episodes and seasons. The show is an easy, lighthearted, and enjoyable watch for those who love a bit of history. Just positive vibes throughout the show.
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