From Chef to Honorary Doctor!

By 8 October, 2016Articles

Food In Action’s Fia Gulliksson takes food, creativity and the countryside seriously. Fia is a successful food artisan, uniting high-quality gastronomy, creativity, and culture with a strong focus on sustainability.”

With these words it was announced that Fia Gulliksson will be awarded an honorary doctorate from Mid Sweden University on the 14th of October 2016. Appointed for her work with numerous sustainable brands that have put Jämtland on the map, including “Östersund – Creative City of Gastronomy” in UNESCO’s network, the Jazzkitchen restaurant, Gastronomy JH and Brunkullan Tea Company.

– “From Chef to Honorary Doctor, I’m still trying to digest the news. I’m of course incredibly proud and happy and will do everything I can to deserve it”, says Fia.

 

Food In Action, with Fia at the forefront, has just concluded a major concept for the UCCN2016 week, when the world came to visit Jämtland and crEATive Östersund. Over 50 international chefs and gastronomes participated in a cultural festival that will go down in Östersund’s history, including Cultural Kitchen from Finland, Mette Helbæk from Danmark, Food Studio and Chefs Dinner from Norge, and Jamal Hashi from NYC. How Jamal got here is an amazing story you can read here.

Festivities were organised for UNESCO delegates from almost 120 cities in 55 countries, and for local residents. Apropos the way in which rural events are not publicised in big cities, it is still remarkable that this UN meeting and the food and culture week were not covered by Sweden’s national media.

Fia has just returned home from an exciting guest appearance in “Dinner with a view”, an event that was held in the mountains south-east of Krakow, Poland. She and Chef Malika created an outstanding luxury dinner, 13 servings, all prepared al fresco over an open fire.

Watch this teaser from “Dinner with a view”

“Just the way we do things at home in Jämtland, when we enjoy the best of our green gold, our nature and ingredients, I felt right at home”, says Fia proudly.

Her passionate commitment to resource efficiency and sustainable development, as well as her confidence and enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and regional development are genuinely inspiring. So inspiring it attracts people from all over the world, like Carli Ratcliff – a freelance journalist who writes for Monocle, among others.

“I’’d like to quote the journalist Carli Ratcliff. She says that it’s time for Nordic rural areas to realise that our ‘ordinary’ is extremely attractive, a new type of luxury, and that this is ‘extraordinary’ for visitors and businesspeople from around the world. Managing this treasure and crEATive capital is my aim in life,” says Fia.

In addition to travelling the world and providing inspiration for more crEATive capital, the founder of Food In Action is currently writing a book with the working title: crEATive food & action -the essentials for sustainable business and real profit.

Book Fia for a workshop, a lecture or a guest appearance here!