Original subtitles

[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]