San Sebastián in the Basque Country (Spain) has one of the most historic traditional tapas houses, Antonio Bar, which is home to Michelin star chef Koldo Royo, who is making waves on TikTokAn almost instinctive passion with strong family roots is believed to be born.
Although Antonio’s Bar is no longer owned by Koldo’s family, when he was just an 11-year-old boy, he used to go around the corners of the restaurant making cocktails, serving traditional Basque tapas and sweeping the premises.
as he recalls in conversation with himself Business Insider SpainWith a distinct joy close to the people, the bar at the time was a place where the whole family met and, like it or not, you had to work on the premises to keep it running.
At the time, his mother cooked for diners at Antonio’s Bar and the young Koldo was learning what would be a fundamental instrument throughout his life. even with love, remembers his mother’s food, “which she cooked like an angel”,
However, He Started in the Kitchen for Thanksgiving Carlos Echevarria, Her father’s friend and cook. From there, Koldo decided to drop out of school and compete in various cocktail competitions, at the same time as a culinary art nouvelle cuisine, arriving in Spain.
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This current, originating in France, will reach with great force in the Basque Country, where young chefs Juan Mari Arzac and Pedro Subijana They will start with New Basque cuisine. Coincidence, or not, of life itself, Earner was a regular customer of the bar along with Luis Irizar himself.
It was from here that his career rise was meteoric. Koldo remembers He was the first “intern” to enter Arzak’s kitchenWhich then brought together the entire family of the legendary Maharaj, though he did so without any charge.
However, he explains that it was “fortunate” that he passed by Arzak’s kitchen, where he added charcoal to the fire, served as a barbecue and learned the basics of traditional Basque gastronomy.
Gone are the days when Koldo was learning, because now he himself has become a benchmark in the social network for a large community, who see in his videos the same inspiration that, as a young man, he had with those of Basque cuisine. seen in the living legends.
Importance of Values in Tiktok
Unlike what happened to other content creators who started their first steps on TikTok during the most difficult phase of the pandemic, Koldo still did not dare to step in, as he believed that there were more important issues. .
a) yes, sought permission to go out during the period of restrictions and marched wearing 4 masks to prepare food in the soup kitchen,
“I was ashamed to teach that I could eat a fish or an omelette while there were people who had worse timing,” he laments.
After that social work, Maharaj started his journey on social networks, due to which he created a community There are about one lakh followers on Tiktok As of the date of this article. And, how could it be otherwise, on the platform he wants to broadcast something more than a simple recipe.
“The message I try to convey on TikTok are values”I assure you. “There is a lot in cooking, but you have to give a little value to the recipe, to the essence, to serve as an example.”
Though he says he never wants too much LikesBut betting on those recipes being there it should be, because it would be a shame if the historical tradition of passing down the heirloom between generations was lost.
Now michelin star chef He also acknowledges that no one knows how the algorithm really works. “The best thing to do is to relax and know that one publication is going to have 20 million and another isn’t,” he says.
For them, Tiktok is very much like a restaurant. On some occasions, many catering establishments are empty, even doing a good job. Social networks are similar in this sense: you can do something well, but not in the desired way.
Despite this, Koldo, already seasoned in life experience, acknowledges that mistakes are fundamental to growing in life, both personally and professionally.
“Everyone always stumbles in life, we may have problems…”, he says. “It’s too long, but at my age it has to help me learn from it and know that there is only one end to life, which is to die.”
It’s the same vitality he shares with his followers on social networks, the typical humility of someone who wants to share what he knows how to do best: cook.
