Koldo Royo, the 'grandfather' of Tik Tok who destroys his healthy recipes in a minute: "In life you have to get older, but not old"

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Barely a year ago the

(September 12, 1958) took to social networks to

.

"He was 62 and he didn't mean to

it," he tells between laughs, "he just wanted to help people."

Today he is a Tik Tok star, where he accumulates some 882,900 followers.

And from there he has jumped to other networks, such as Instagram and Facebook.

"I don't consider myself an

because I don't even influence my house when it comes to eating," he laughs modestly.

The chef from San Sebastián, preparing one of his recipes. Anaya

Cook and share

.

"I don't live if I can't communicate with other people."

The same way she did in restaurants, when they left something on the plate and he came out to ask what had happened and, if she didn't like it, why she had to prepare something else.

On the internet, where he started in 1995 with afuegolento.com, his recipes are like his life:

A SOLIDARITY STAR

Unlike many chefs, who triumphed in the pandemic with their

when we were all bored and ran out of yeast in the supermarket, Royo was not feeling inspired during the lockdown.

"I

, especially in the hospitality industry," he recalls.

He preferred to go to soup kitchens to put his grain of sand, or flour.

As he already did in penitentiary and juvenile centers in Palma de Mallorca.

"Everyone has to eat and

who is missing in the kitchen today, like grandmothers used to do."

That is why he praises the work of chefs like José Andrés, always willing to lend him a hand.

"There are many chefs who dedicate all their effort to gastronomy, with ideas and criteria. Above all, many women."

He believes more in the public than in the Michelin Guide

.

"The problem with the stars is that they give them to you for being who you are and then they take away your authenticity to ask you to be something else. That if you don't have a sommelier, that if you don't do this... Well, then, why do you Did you give it? In the end they are like the Ondas. Awards that are given and are given again the following year. They are not lost".

THAT THE KITCHEN IS NOT LAZY

Free of these pressures, he has just published

(Oberon).

A book that he describes as "cocineril", since it can be opened at any page, it remains stable on the table and with the entire recipe on one page.

"

. The specimens have to be in the kitchen to be used."

"You're going to freak out!"

It is her mantra so that no one is lazy in the kitchen.

"If at any time you have doubts about the book,

that you read with your mobile phone and I'll appear in your kitchen," she summarizes.

That is his magic, connecting with all generations, as he has verified in the anecdotes of the Book Fair.

"It was very nice that children and adults came to me to sign them, and that it was the little ones who asked their mothers for the copy."

A FOOD SUBJECT

Children like to eat and cook more

than we think if we involve them in the kitchen, thinks the chef.

"We eat so badly and there is so much childhood obesity because we lack a father, we lack a mother, we lack time for breakfast... And, in the end,

Today we are married twice and it will come the day they are three and four".

He says it from his own experience, although his ex-wife is his partner and they get along divinely.

"We are very close friends."

He thinks that a food course would be very necessary.

That does not mean that from time to time they can indulge in a whim, he emphasizes.

"All chefs have eaten at Mc Donald's at some point, I said once at a congress and Pedro Subijana put his head in his hands," he remembers laughing.

"Actually, what I want is

.

For example, her recipe for spicy prawns can be made "with a red prawn from Denia that has cost you money or with frozen ones," she clarifies.

"And it will be good. Although, of course, with mushrooms better than mushrooms, everyone will find the bases as best they can to later substitute and eat well."

DEFENDER OF THE AGE

After so many years of work, from the screen to the paper and as an advisor, he

"I am a great defender that

In Tik Tok it is followed by an audience of 24 to 44 years.

And with the book it will reach 64-year-olds, he says.

"It seems that social networks are taken over by young people and the rest of us are disconnected, but no. On Tik Tok, teenagers may dance while everyone is watching."

You influence thousands, who do you admire?

"Of course, to Juan Mari and Elena Arzak [who have a prologue to their book]. Luis Irizar gave me the principles. To

. And to Lucio, who continues to put at the first table, with people who don't even know who they are, and talk to them".

He has never claimed to be the best.

"I compare it to football, in gastronomy not everyone can be Real Madrid".

THE BARTENDERS DEBATE

Of course, "the kitchen and the waiter have to be paid", he settles on the current debate on salaries.

He believes that coffee should also be more expensive and of better quality.

"And if I can't take three, I'll take two."

The secret is, she defends, in rationalizing time.

He is in favor of the double shift, even if they have to kick you off the table.

"

In New York they give you 20 minutes to eat. You have to work your eight hours but in an orderly manner, without having to be here."

What there has to be is professionalism, he indicates.

"A lot of training to create leaders, but

And she expresses it without fear of

coming out .

"I have a few, like everyone else. When they mess with me I answer: Do you want a fight? I choose saber!" He laughs.

LAUGH AT YOURSELF

He is used to it, since he has spent his entire career receiving food critics.

"I like today's journalism more, in which young people report that it exists, period, without the need to give so much cane. I will always remember a great phrase by Carmen Casas, gastronomic critic of

that before a group of experts looking over her shoulder said:

in my weekly column.

Nor is he a fan of those who demonize

, especially now that he knows how long it takes to be a content creator.

He has a job and, surely, with more headaches."

The hardest part is condensing the steps.

"Imagine what I'm talking about, if my last name is Royo...", he jellies.

He is aware that he is not followed because of his

or his image.

"I don't put on a pretty still life and I've gained a few kilos since I'm a

because I try everything."

But she has taken a filming and editing course, because she has liked her for 10 years, when he bought a Super 8 mm camera, she says.

"The function of the one who makes recipes is to help. In the end,

Any neighbor's son, without understanding football, comments on the matches, knows the medicine you should take and becomes the best cook when he is among friends and family.

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