This is Joseba, the “wild and talkative” cook son of Karlos Arguiñano

A Joseba Arguinano he doesn’t mind being compared to his father. Could it be that he is used to it; not surprisingly, he is a copy of the popular basque chef. And not just physical, but his character is also cheerful and spontaneous: “Wild and talkative”, he summarizes with a smile. They say that of all the brothers, I am the one who most resembles ‘aita'”. And he is also the most mediatic. because too appears on cooking shows and, now, to loop the loop of comparisons, has published his first recipe book, ‘Cooking with Joseba Arguiñano’ (Planet).

“It has led me a little bit -he explains-. When cooking on TV, I had to minimize the recipes of my workshop and the restaurant, where the ingredients are counted by kilos, preparing them for the people at home, for four people. And as in the second season of ‘open kitchen’ (Antena 3 TV) with my ‘aita’ I had more than 100 recipes, because inadvertently I was already preparing the book”.

“It’s a very funny book. traditional recipes with a special and simple touch, for those who do not know how to cook. A mayonnaise with black garlic or some prawns with a special crunch, without messing with strange things. A little sauce, a little detail, a little ginger… As I have traveled a lot, there are ingredients from abroad that are already very close at hand, such as turmeric or coriander.”

It is his first book but it has not been his only television program. At ETB, she has already spent five seasons with ‘bite stories’in which they go from town to town, from farmhouse to farmhouse in which they tell the history of the town and cook dishes.

Thus, Joseba, just turned 37, is not in the shadow of his father, no matter how much they look alike. In 2013 he rode the bakery and pastry shop JA (your initials), which already has three stores (one in Zarautz and two in San Sebastian), and it’s doing great. In the workshop he is a ‘crack’, according to his father, who assures that he is better than him in this field. “More than better, yes I have given the subject more cane, I am a cook but I turned to pastry because my aunt [Arguiñano] Eva was a reference for me, since she was the restaurant’s pastry chef and when she became a teacher at our cooking school, I took her position. That’s where I got the bug of the bread, the handling of the dough and the puff pastries, all that magic of the living world of ferments and I got hooked “.

The DNA of popularity

And its media facet? Well, it’s in his DNA. Without wanting it, Joseba was ‘trained’ for popularity. “My father has it in his blood,” he smiles. “In fact, I was born with that because since I have the use of reason it has been like that; people came by bus to Zarautz to see him. And if he wasn’t there they would take a picture with us, so we have taken him naturally.”

The jump to the small screen comes, according to him, because of his character. “What I have always been wild and talkativethey called me to go on TV, and that in my first program, which was also called ‘Open Kitchen’ but was done with other chefs on a set, I was nervous, stuttered, sweated… “Despite his bad experience , they called him to get back in front of the cameras. “Then they offered me ‘Bites of stories‘, and that was more cool to me. I took a run, I’ve let my hair down and I feel more comfortable”.

Family junction

Everyone predicted that he would end up following in his father’s footsteps, although he was not so sure. “They told me that I was going to end up on TV, and I answered ‘what are you saying!’. And they told me that I was going to make a recipe book, and I answered the same thing, ‘what are you saying!’ passing everything they said… But that’s what the ‘aita’ has taught us: be ‘get forward’ and do the things you can and do the best you can“.

While new projects arrive, it will continue with the TV and the workshop and its stores, which work “thanks to the good teams” they have formed. And to the family union. “The ‘ama’ has instilled in us to be a family, a pineapple, that we all have defects and virtues and we all have to pull the boat”.

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And on that ship they sail the seven children of Karlos Arguiñano. Older than Joseba are Eneko, Zigor and Karlos, and behind came Martín, Amaia and María (“our Argentine sister who came later but is one more”). They are all involved in the family businesswhich are many: restaurant, hotel, winery, cooking school, bakery, shops… “I’m on TV and in the bakery,” says the chef.

And what if the new adventures they propose don’t work out for you, Joseba? “Well, I return to the place where I was and that’s it. The path I want to follow is to live in the present, be happy, without looking to the future or backwards, go fishing, sailing, surfing, which are my hobbies. With a good meal you always enjoy better [le chiflan la gastronomía vasca y la nipona por cómo tratan los pescados]. Whatever comes out and I feel like it, I’ll take it. If you say no, you later regret what you haven’t done.”