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]
Early life
Sommarström 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
Sommarström with Frida Bäcke at 2024 Nobel Week
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
Sommarström 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]
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