How New York chef Jamal picked up the phone to Sweden and is now coming to cook at crEATive Östersund!

Chef Jamal Hashi dialed Sweden as part of The Swedish Number initiative. He randomly (and happily!) connected with me and we discovered that we had a mutual love of *Good Food and sustainable community.

*taste, sustainability, equality

Jamal is now on his way to Östersund as part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Conference where he will participate in many events, including cooking for locals and UNESCO delegates at crEATive Östersund this week.

Jamal and more then 70 food friends from all over the world is coming and helping to create the collective event we call crEATive. More then 40 of them are staying at our home in many different ways. This cool house boat from Ottossons Bygg will host some of them.

Jamal has been cooking for more than 15 years across my the US, including a large project in Minneapolis, called Safari Restaurant, which serves as a community hub for Somalis and other East African communities residing in Minnesota. It had just celebrated it's 10th anniversary. A similar project in NYC, the Safari Restaurant Harlem, is the first Somali restaurant in New York City. The restaurant was named the Best African Restaurant by New York Times and the Village Voice, three months after the launch in June 2015.

Jamal has also served on the Board of the American Swedish Institute (2012-2015) and the Somali-American Chamber of Commerce African Business Association of Minnesota. It is amazing what can happen when you pick up the phone!

To get there spells together(e) 
/Fia Gulliksson, Food In Action

About Swedish number
Swedish Tourist Association, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the country abolishing censorship, recently created a phone number that lets people from anywhere in the world instantly connect with a Swede.