Son of immigrants from a colony successful Nafpaktia and Kozani, Nikos Koulousias’s culinary travel took him from his grandmother’s room to Luxor, from the luxurious Ritz to the royal kitchens of London. He shares his beingness story, memories of Harry and Meghan’s wedding, and the idiosyncrasies of Queen Elizabeth.
Amid pines, olive trees, and colorful plants successful the lush country of Agios Ioannis Peristeron, overlooking the Ionian Sea successful 1 of Corfu’s astir beauteous regions, lies the edifice “Avali.” Here, 1 could easy imagination similar royalty: imagining elegant tables, aureate cutlery, and recalling the world’s astir celebrated royal family, which has roots connected to this island.
Living 1 of his uncommon dreams—cooking for Queen Elizabeth and being portion of the royal cook team—Nikos Koulousias has countless stories from a beingness that seems pulled from a novel. Having traveled the world, helium present chooses the places helium prefers, stopping successful Corfu arsenic a impermanent cook astatine the renowned gastronomic festival “Greek Chefs’ Abroad” by the Mar-Bella group, which celebrates its 5th twelvemonth showcasing apical Greek chefs abroad.
At the Ritz
“Nothing was casual oregon guaranteed—you can’t abruptly find yourself cooking for the royal household overnight. It takes persistence, hard work, and effort. Personally, I ne'er hide my humble roots, and I ne'er get complacent,” says Koulousias, who was acceptable to navigator connected the magical terrace of the open-air edifice “Apaggio” astatine the Mar-Bella group’s Nido hotel. A abrupt tempest forced a determination indoors, but it didn’t halt guests who had booked days successful beforehand to sensation dishes prepared by the cook who erstwhile fed royalty.
Koulousias admits his culinary curiosity began precise young: “Cooking recovered maine early,” helium says with a grin that reflects his genuine emotion for the craft. Growing up arsenic the lone lad successful a colony successful Nafpaktos portion his begetter had migrated to Germany, helium helped his sisters astatine home.
Before helium was six, helium began sneaking into the room to assistance his grandma and pistillate relatives, starting with stirring atom pudding and adding cinnamon. “Then, arsenic I took a much progressive role, I started having fun—it felt similar a game.” This continued aft moving to Germany, wherever cooking became a nostalgic transportation to Greece. That transportation yet became a conscious decision: helium wanted to prosecute cooking arsenic a profession, studying it earnestly and passing exams astatine a prestigious culinary schoolhouse with standards arsenic precocious arsenic medicine oregon law.
Around the World
Koulousias learned German, entered his imagination school, and began receiving nonrecreational offers, yet moving astatine the Ritz (later Le Meridien) and earning a assistance for further grooming overseas astatine the New England Culinary Art Institute. Returning home, helium worked 5 much years with the aforesaid radical earlier moving on. Despite archetypal connection barriers, the UK proved a large learning ground, yet opening doors to the royal kitchens.
At 24, helium became caput cook astatine a Michelin-starred edifice successful Stuttgart, a work helium successfully managed for 4 years portion maintaining precocious standards.
The Royal Wedding
The accidental to enactment with Buckingham Palace’s culinary squad came from then-head cook Mark Flanagan, a transportation from culinary school. Koulousias passed rigorous interviews, inheritance checks, aesculapian exams, and adjacent a psychiatrist’s valuation earlier joining the squad preparing Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Cooking for the royals was a strict protocol: 630 guests had to beryllium served simultaneously, ending precisely erstwhile the Queen enactment down her fork. Yet it was a life-changing acquisition that opened doors successful the palace. Meghan adjacent taught him that thoroughfare nutrient could substance successful precocious cuisine: she requested blistery dogs for guests, which were yet extracurricular protocol but highlighted that fashionable dishes shouldn’t beryllium excluded.
At the Greek Chefs’ Abroad festival, his paper included a refined instrumentality connected British thoroughfare food—fish and chips—with cod prepared delicately for haute cuisine and served with finely chopped fries. He besides incorporated household traditions, utilizing seasonal and section ingredients, including Kozani saffron successful a royal risotto.
Queen Elizabeth’s Solitude
During his clip astatine Buckingham Palace, Koulousias interacted with Queen Elizabeth. Though not peculiarly demanding, she preferred eating alone, adjacent with her grandchildren present. Once she personally asked him for fig jam astatine 7 a.m., revealing a glimpse into her backstage life. Koulousias became the palace’s regular cook until her passing, realizing aboriginal connected the value of his relation erstwhile asked to person a achromatic azygous acceptable for 12 days—a people of the royal protocol and her legacy.
Love and Greece
Despite his royal career, his bosom ever remained successful Greece. During travels arsenic a impermanent chef, helium met his wife, Themelina, from Leros. He spent the pandemic successful Greece, embracing land beingness and calling himself “more Leros than the locals.” While helium continues to question worldwide offering his services, Greece remains his location basal and root of inspiration.
“I surely don’t tally a MasterChef kitchen,” helium notes. “Young chefs contiguous aren’t utilized to pressure, but I garbage to taxable my squad to the harsh attraction I endured. Love, perseverance, belief, and the close to imagination guided me, and they proceed to usher my brigade.”
Koulousias’s travel from Nafpaktia stirring atom pudding to Buckingham Palace kitchens exemplifies talent, determination, and the fulfillment of dreams—proof that imaginativeness and hard enactment cognize nary bounds.
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