Aniol Güell: "You gain 3,000 followers in a day and suddenly your life changes."

GironaWith more than a million followers on social media, half a million of them on Instagram alone, Olot native Aniol Güell (Olot, 1997) has become a great ambassador for Mexican cuisine in just three years. And not just for the Catalan public, but his success has been, in his own words, being "a Spaniard who makes videos of Mexican food for Mexicans." Specifically, his specialty is tacos and he is known by the nickname @tacotios. In 2022, she moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, to study the final year of her degree in physical activity and sports sciences at the Euses de Salt University. It was a way to "escape" and, at the same time, "find herself" after the premature death of her father when she was 18. "Leaving only makes you grow," she reflects. "Since Olot, I always thought that I wanted to be like the people who leave. I needed my purpose in life."

What she found was a "paradise" that she didn't want to leave. To make the most of her stay and discover the local gastronomy, she decided to write to one of the foodies most reputable in the city for knowing the 10 essential places to eat. He replied with a "Come on, dude, I'm treating.", showing "the capacity to welcome, toto cuddle", of the Mexicans. Güell, who had never been in front of a camera and who had a non-existent presence on social networks, suddenly discovered "the best job in the world." "Then I was a studyhunger, who had gone to Mexico for four months with just enough money, and, after working very hard one summer, I realized that there are people who get paid to eat!" he says.

L'influencer from Guadalajara decided to sponsor him, and in one taco tour Güell opened up: "Don't you realize you have the best job in the world?" His colleagues took him up on the challenge and challenged him to create an account. "It would be called @tacotios," he joked, "a Spaniard who eats tacos." Today he makes a living being a taco. foodie, can afford to accept only 5% of the orders placed with him – you have to be strict to have "a loyal community," he points out – and can charge between 700 and 1,200 euros per meal in a restaurant accompanied only by his cell phone, a microphone, a spotlight, and plates that pass in front of him.

Grandma's Kitchen

Surely he wouldn't have found that purpose in life if it weren't for the passion for food instilled in him by his grandmother, who "pampered him tremendously as an only grandchild." Of Andalusian origin, with "his own language that mixed Catalan and Spanish," just as he constantly intersperses words from Mexico, Güell explains that she taught him that "one of the main ingredients of cooking is love." This is what he has loved about the country that has stolen his heart, especially for its street cooking.

At @tacotios he combines commissioned work, which allows him to earn a living, with his true passion: discovering places that don't get much publicity on social media. Anonymous people who have been working on the street for decades, from generation to generation. "Despite not being Mexican, I have realized that the smell of tortilla "Freshly made, for me, is nostalgic," he explains. "Like grandma's sofrito."

While trying to make a living editing videos in Mexico, after having decided to extend his stay, he was invited to Tijuana for a tour for foodies where he ended up making two "simple" videos that went viral. "You gain 3,000 new followers in one day and it changes your life," he explains. "You see the potential, and the videos become your job."

The Little Offspring

Mexico has stopped being an adventure and has become a destination. And the Olot where he grew up has become a few weeks' vacation to "give thanks for the privilege of the life we have in Europe." Along the way, Güell admits that the question has often crossed his mind: "What will they think in Olot of what I'm doing?"

In the capital of La Garrotxa, he studied for 13 years at Petit Plançó, a secular, charter school where he received "a very good education," but where he believes he asked himself too little "what he wanted to do in life." "I think the people of Olot are closed-minded because of the way they've been made to think," he reflects. "It's not the people's fault but the system's: they make you decide who you want to be before you know what you are."

Els Ossos macaroni

But just as he's passionate about tacos, when he returns home, there are cuisines that can't be missed. They transport him to his grandmother's kitchen. They would be his grandmother's macaroni from the Hostal Els Ossos restaurant, on the road from Olot to Santa Pau, near Sant Cristòfol de les Fonts; the hot dogs from Farolet; and the cured meats from the Hostal del Sol in Olot. Or a good meal at Ca l'Enric, in the Bianya Valley, with a Michelin star. And if it's from his experience at a very young age, then the "incredible memory" of Mercè Colomer at Can Guix. "I left a jacket with my ID inside, and when he saw me four years later, he still remembered and gave it back to me," laughs Güell.

A freshly made tortilla

After three years making the best tacos in Guadalajara known, now the life of foodie This Olot native takes a "new leap into the void." He no longer has a home in the city that welcomed him, but his suitcase is ready to travel throughout Mexico and make the country's best tacos known. "Tacos are ancestral. Behind a taco there is so much history! There is no other like it; they are infinite. Generations and generations have derived pleasure from a kitchen of leftovers. Behind the bean, he chili and the corn There are endless dishes that are derived from it," he says. The goal now is to make a series to sell on Netflix or another major production company. He saw it clearly when, thanks to a viral video, he managed to save "a place that was about to close." "That's what being influencer; to be able to influence positively."