The final of the 40th anniversary of Chef of the Year 2023 was decided at Annexet in Stockholm. After an exciting competition, Desirée Jaks won and can now call herself the Swedish champion in professional cooking. She was born in 1995 and lives in Stockholm.
“I'm still in total shock,” she says.
During the day, the eight finalists served dishes of hot and cold lobster and reindeer saddle – and then the completely new element ”cook soup on a stick” or ”you take what you have” which was presented the day before the final. The finalists then had to go to Grönsakshallen Sorunda where they were given a budget of 300 kronor to buy Swedish ingredients for. In addition to what was purchased there, the chefs were only allowed to add salt during the final.
– This element has been very appreciated by the chefs and their personalities really come through in the dishes in a whole new way. With a focus on fresh Swedish ingredients, they have created magical autumn dishes that are both beautiful to look at and fantastically delicious to eat, says Helene Kugelberg, CEO of Årets Køk.
Desirée Jaks did the best during the final day and led both at halftime and when it was finally time for the winner of Chef of the Year 2023 to be chosen.
– I hope that this win can give me the opportunity to have a stronger voice in the development of the industry where we can work sustainably and make the industry more attractive to new generations. It feels like we are in a generational shift, says Desirée Jaks.
At the awards ceremony at the Annex, Desirée Jaks received the Gastronomic Academy's gold dairy medal from HRH Prince Carl Philip, patron of Chef of the Year, as well as a prize check for SEK 250,000. Also present on stage was Jonas Dahlbom, Chef of the Year 1996, and the chairman of the jury.
Henric Herbertsson came in second place and Oskar Persson in third place.
– It has been consistently high quality this year. In my opinion, this was the best final ever. We in the jury have had a difficult task and it has been close, but in the end I can say that the right person won, says Jonas Dahlbom.
About Desirée Jaks
Desirée was born in 1995 and lives in Stockholm. She is creative director at Restaurant Spesso (Stureplansgruppen). Before that, she worked at Restaurant Agrikultur for over four years where she started as a chef and finished as head chef together with Filip Fastén who won Chef of the Year 2014. Before that, Desirée worked at Restaurant Sjön in Jönköping. She was part of the Stockholm Culinary team in 2016 and won the Olympics in Erfurt, Germany. Desirée was a member of the Junior National Chef Team in 2017-2018 and competed in the 2018 World Championships in Luxembourg and won Nordic Young Chef 2018. Today, she is a member of the National Chef Team with the 2024 Olympics in mind.
According to the press release.
