Karlos Arguiñano: "The kitchen does not make you a millionaire, television does"

He has been on television for 32 years, a lifetime as a cook and every time he publishes a cookbook it becomes a

: he accumulates more than 400,000 books sold.

Two years after the launch of

, Karlos Arguiñano (Beasain, Gipuzkoa, 1948) publishes

(Planeta), with whom he has published six books.

He has left the management of the restaurant, which he

in 1985 and with which he achieved a Michelin star, in the hands of four of his seven children.

The place, facing the Cantabrian Sea, is a pilgrimage place for

of the cook, which fuel the popularity of one of the best-known characters, thanks to his daily program, Cocina Abierto, which has been broadcast by Antena 3 since 1991.

How is the pandemic affecting your restaurant?

It must be said that it not only affects the hospitality industry, there is a whole environment around it that is having a bad time, such as delivery men, suppliers, taxi drivers, buses ... Between 20 and 25 buses come to my house every day full of pensioners to visit Arguiñano.

This is like the Virgin of Aránzazu.

Now we have the business at zero, we have about 35 employees in winter and we have the restaurant, the hotel and the bar closed.

What I have open is the Ayala training school, with face-to-face classes, and what I do do is record the television program daily.

With all this, people who have small businesses, young people with mortgages, rush me more.

But let it be clear that the virus is to blame, no one else.

Do you not hold anyone responsible for what is happening?

I think this is the virus' fault, and that everyone does what they can to deal with it.

There are people who cannot bear to go nine months without working.

I see it on the positive side for me, as there are more people from ERTE and ERE, more people see me than normal on television, since people are at home because they have no choice.

I contribute with my home recipes to eat better while spending less money.

You always publish a book at Christmas, is it a sales insurance?

60% of gastronomy book sales are made at Christmas.

It is the best gift, for 24 euros it is great to teach cooking to young people who are independent, or families who now eat more at home.

Is the cook who sells the most books?

I am the cook who sells the most books in Spain and Europe.

When I go to the market and I see mothers and grandmothers they tell me that I cook like them, for me it is a compliment.

I have the feeling that I have a lot of followers.

Young people stop me on the street who tell me that when they were little they watched cartoons and Karlos Arguiñano.

He had a Michelin star and lost it.

I started on TV and they took it from me.

At that time it was frowned upon, now cooks appear on TV and nothing happens.

I have not forgotten.

Now my kids don't think they're looking for the star.

I always remember what my friend Pedro Subijana says, who says that there comes a time when you have to write a letter for customers and another for Michelin inspectors.

Ferran Adriá had to make more than 30 different recipes on each menu, and that in the end saturates you.

The luck that Spain has is that we have placed ourselves in all the world guides, and we are among the three best cuisines in the world, along with French and Italian.

From the French we have learned to sell, because they have sold their kitchen very well.

Italians have made the most of the simplicity of their cuisine.

We are a country with 80 million tourists who enjoy our gastronomy, we are a mosaic of cultures.

Will those tourists return?

We will resurface again, but it will not be the same as before.

High-

restaurants

are having a hard time because they feed on this purchasing power tourism, many of them come on private flights.

My wife, Luisi, has always told me, that it seemed to her that this was going to explode, everyone traveling, everyone sunbathing in Central America, on airplanes all together, where they gave you a snack, a wine and the newspaper.

All this has hit a huge brake and it will cost us, especially for young people, who will find it difficult to get ahead.

Will the tasting menus be kept?

Likewise, those 20-course menus have peaked, but thanks to the restaurants that have investigated to make all those dishes, a more refined cuisine has been achieved.

We will have to adapt to the new times.

Before, we would go to such a restaurant once a year or every six months, and I think the luxury is going to slow down.

Have you made money from cooking?

Yes, I have made quite a bit of money.

My culture is work.

Since I was 17 years old and I left home I have not stopped working, and I always remember what my father told me when I left, that he preferred me dead than in jail as a thief.

I understand the one who steals to eat, but not the one who does it for money.

You don't become a millionaire with cooking, with TV, yes.

The money I earn from advertising I dedicate to social works.

The 900 recipes that always turn out well, isn't that going to spare?

It is that if it is not like that, I will refund your money.

I have Javi Clemente as a neighbor [the former footballer and current coach of the Euskadi team] who asks me how to make curd or flan, I explain it to him and then he tells me how well it turned out.

All the recipes are made by me on television.

It is the guarantee that I offer.

I cannot make mistakes of this kind, I am not a morning singer.