Jessie Sommarström (born May 1, 1979) is a Swedish chef and sustainability advocate. In 2022, she was named Chef of the Year.[1] In 2023, she earned a Gastronomic Academy Gold Medal and was named Woman of the Year in the Tourism Industry as well as Restaurangvärlden's Chef's Chef.[2][3] She has worked on food sustainability with various initiatives including Urban Deli and the Axfoundation.[4]
Jessie Sommarström | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sommarström in 2024 | |
| Born | May 1, 1979 |
| Citizenship | Sweden |
| Occupation(s) | Chef, sustainability advocate |
| Spouse | Gordon Grimlund |
| Awards | Chef of the Year
Chef's Chef Gastronomy Academy Gold Medal Woman of the Year in Tourism Industry |
Early life
editSommarström was adopted from India and grew up in Sweden.[5] She was raised by a single mother and primarily ate vegetarian food; her love and curiosity for food developed during her teenage years.[1][4] After high school, she began working as a dishwasher in restaurants and occasionally helped out with culinary duties.[4]
Career
edit
Sommarström has worked in Sturehof, Esperanto, and other restaurants.[1] In 2021, she participated in the reality television cooking show Kockarnas Kamp.[4] The same year, she became an ambassador for the Children's Fund.[5] In 2024, she prepared the Nobel Prize banquet menu for the first time alongside chef Frida Bäcke.[1] She is also a partner with Gastroagentur, a Swedish agency partnering culinary profiles with companies.[6]
In 2022, Sommarström pivoted from restaurant business to the public sector, specifically on issues of food sustainability and climate change.[7] Toward these efforts, Sommarström has been a creative leader for Urban Deli, a sustainable food enterprise where she's worked on more sustainable, circular ways of raising, preparing, and cooking fish; and has worked on "the food of the future" with the Axfoundation, a sustainability organization.[4] In 2023, Sommarström developed the Swedish Dish of the Year, a meatball dish made of 50% meatballs and 50% mince legume with tomato sauce and pasta. She has stated that the dish's sustainability and accessibility was rooted in her childhood.[8] The concept also inspired her legume-based mince, first developed at the Axfoundation, which was later handed off to Svenska Färsodlarna for further development and debuted in IKEA restaurants all across Sweden starting in 2024.[9]
As part of being crowned Chef of the Year in 2022, Sommarström's face was printed on bottles of Melleruds' Mästarpilsner.[10] She is the second woman in history to win the award since Kristina Petterson in 1988.[11]
Personal life
editSommarström has two sons: Theo and Julius. Her husband, Gordon Grimlund, is also a chef. Together, she and her family live on the Stockholm Archipelago.[7]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Rydén, Jenny (2024-12-05). "Nobel Prize banquet chef and pastry chef 2024". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Hon blev Kockarnas kock 2023". Restaurangvärlden (in Swedish). 2023-05-17. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ "Jessie Sommarström: "Jag glömmer aldrig förnedringen, och bestämde mig för att aldrig behandla någon så"". DN.se (in Swedish). 2023-03-11. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ a b c d e "Jessie Sommarström". Culinary Canvas. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ a b "Jessie Sommarström ny ambassadör för Barnfonden". Mynewsdesk (in Swedish). 2023-10-11. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ "Årets Kock lanserar agentur för profiler inom gastronomi". Mynewsdesk (in Swedish). 2023-02-23. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ a b "Balans är nyckeln till allt i livet med familjen". www.arvidnordquist.se (in Swedish). 2022-07-27. Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ Nysted, Jennie (2023-04-25). "Årets Rätt 2023 – en folkkär klassiker". Dagens PS (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-12-06.
- ^ Hooft, Gustav vant (2024-04-22). "IKEA Sweden and Jessie Sommarström Introduce 50/50 Meat & Bean Patty". Axfoundation. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ Birka, Joan (2023-09-08). "Melleruds makes pilsner with Chef of the Year 2022, Jessie Sommarström". Fashions Trend. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ Magnå, Joakim (2022-09-15). "Årets kock 2022: "Som en dröm"". www.pt.se (in Swedish). Retrieved 2024-12-05.