After three final moments and a thrilling cabbage roll duel, Michael Andersson, a chef at Stockholm's restaurant Celeste, emerged victorious from the Chef of the Year competition.
It was the toughest part. The whole process with the cabbage rolls, because you overthink everything all the time, he says.
The six finalists also had to prepare a seafood dish and a vegetarian dish. At the award ceremony, Michael Andersson received the Gastronomic Academy's gold medal from Prince Carl Philip, patron of the Chef of the Year, as well as a prize sum in the form of a check for 250,000 kronor.
It was a tough final. Things don't feel as good when you have to do it under time pressure as when you practice beforehand. But I suppose I'm stubborn and fairly solution-oriented, says Michael Andersson.
He has previously been part of the Swedish national culinary team and therefore has some experience of competing in cooking. But he wants to emphasize that the other participants were also worthy winners.
I didn't want to know what the others were doing, so I had no idea how it would go. But it's really crappy that there are five losers and only one winner, it's really not like anyone is a worse cook than anyone else, he says.
2023: Desirée Jaks
2022: Jessie Sommarström
2021: Gustav Leonhardt
2020: Ludwig Tjörnemo
2019: Martin Moses
2018: David Lundqvist
Source: Chef of the Year
