High above the Arctic Circle, these Philly cheesesteaks are filled with moose and reindeer meat

KIRUNA, Sweden (AP) — Forget Philadelphia: In the far north of Sweden, locals and tourists alike chow down on Arctic cheesesteaks, their hoagie rolls piled high with moose and reindeer meat.

At Stejk Street Food in Kiruna, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the Arctic Circle, owners Zebastian Bohman and Cecilia Abrahamsson modeled their specialty after the famous Philly cheesesteak.

Last week, thousands of visitors descended upon Kiruna to watch as the historic Kiruna Church moved 5 kilometers (3 miles) east as part of the town’s relocation. The journey was necessary because the world’s largest underground iron-ore mine is threatening to swallow the town.

Hundreds of those spectators dined at Stejk Street Food, including Don and Anita Haymes, tourists from the United Kingdom. They've stopped by Stejk Street Food three years running during their trips to northern Sweden.

This year, the couple dined on reindeer meat cooked and served by employees wearing shirts that proclaimed “I'm glad Rudolph is dead!”

Just don't tell their grandchildren.

Typically made with thinly sliced beef, cheese and onions, cheesesteaks are Philadelphia's religion. There's an art form to ordering ('wit' or ‘wit-out’ onions) and an unspoken rule that Cheez Whiz, a gooey processed cheese advertised as having a mild cheddar taste, is irreplaceable.

The rival landmarks of Geno’s Steaks and Pat’s King of Steaks, located on opposite corners of the same intersection, are a requisite pit stop for cheesesteak connoisseurs and any Pennsylvanian seeking a political office.

And because it's a swing state, presidential candidates often run through as well. John Kerry, the former U.S. senator from Massachusetts, is still mocked more than 20 years later for the unforgivable sin of ordering Swiss on his cheesesteak at Pat's during his unsuccessful 2004 run for president.

In Kiruna, meanwhile, Bohman and his wife, Abrahamsson, sought to design a dish to whet the appetite of visitors to Swedish Lapland as well as local miners who needed a meal to keep them full through their long shifts.

“We asked around what Kiruna people would like to eat and they said Subway,” the American fast-food sandwich chain, Abrahamsson, a Kiruna native, said.

Even though they've never been to Philadelphia, the couple decided to make their own sandwich modeled off the Philly cheesesteak but with the locally harvested meats of moose and reindeer. The latter is an homage to the area’s long tradition of reindeer herding by the Sami Indigenous people.

The hardest part, Bohman said, was sourcing the famous hoagie roll — a big, soft bun that's everywhere in Philadelphia but nearly nowhere in Sweden. They now get them delivered once a week from the middle of the Nordic country.

Since the food truck's 2015 opening, the menu has expanded to burgers, salads and French fries topped with moose or reindeer (or both) for those who don't relish sticking their face into an enormous sub.

The locals like the burgers best, Bohman said, while those from Stockholm usually order the salads.

Each week, the business goes through 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of ground moose and 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of specialty smoked reindeer for about 500 cheesesteaks and 500 meat-and-fries orders.

But Bohman admits that the meat doesn't come cheap. While a Philly cheesesteak runs a diner between $16 (Geno's) and $18 (Pat's), a regular-size Arctic cheesesteak costs 245 Swedish krona (nearly $26).

The Haymeses, the British couple, said it's worth it.

"In England, we have game, like deer and venison and pheasant, partridge, but it’s not gamey like that," Don Haymes said. “So it hasn’t got that really strong flavor. So I think it’s nice, and more people probably like it for that.”

Anna Capoccia, an Italian tourist, said her reindeer and moose sub tasted sweeter — and better — than a beef-filled Philly cheesesteak, which she ate more than a decade ago.

While Bohman and Abrahamsson have never tried Philly's finest, they can't imagine adding Cheez Whiz to their menu.

"That’s a little bit too greasy for Sweden," Bohman said.

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Pietro De Cristofaro in Kiruna, Sweden, contributed to this report.

A person cooks inside the Stejk Street Food truck in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

Anita and Don Haymes eat at the Stejk Street Food food truck in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

Zebastian Bohman, a co-owner of Stejk Street Food, wears a t-shirt that reads "I'm glad Rudolph is dead", standing outside his food truck in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

Customers look at the menus outside the Stejk Street Food truck in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

A person holds a sandwich at the Stejk Street Food food place in Kiruna, Sweden, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Malin Haarala)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A Brazilian Supreme Court Justice on Thursday ordered the transfer of former President Jair Bolsonaro from the federal police headquarters in Brasilia to a much bigger cell with an outside area in the Papuda Penitentiary Complex, also in the capital.

The transfer was described as a move to a facility with “more favorable conditions” for high-profile detainees.

Since November, Bolsonaro has been carrying out a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup despite his 2022 electoral defeat. His lawyers have been pushing for a transfer to house arrest on medical grounds.

Michelle Bolsonaro, his wife, and his sons have regularly said that Bolsonaro is being mistreated and not getting adequate medical attention.

In the court decision, Justice Alexandre de Moraes denied the accusations. “Regrettably and falsely, there has been a systematic attempt to delegitimize the regular and lawful execution of the custodial sentence of Jair Messias Bolsonaro, which has been carried out with full respect for human dignity."

Bolsonaro had been in a 12-square-meter room with a bed, a private bathroom, air conditioning, a TV set and a desk, and Moraes ordered Bolsonaro's transfer to an even more comfortable situation. He determined that Bolsonaro be transferred to a 54-square-meter room with a 10-square-meter outside area that he can access at will.

Following the transfer, Bolsonaro will also have increased time for family visits and physiotherapy equipment such as a treadmill and bicycle will be installed. The new area resembles an apartment, with a double bed, a kitchen, a laundry, a living room and an outdoor area.

The Supreme Court’s press office said the transfer had already happened.

Since starting his sentence, Bolsonaro has made several trips to a nearby hospital, most recently after falling out of bed and hitting his head.

Moraes decided that Bolsonaro can have “full assistance, 24 (twenty-four) hours a day, from previously registered private doctors, without the need for prior notification.”

Moraes also ordered a medical examination to assess Bolsonaro's health and determine whether he needs to be transferred to a penitentiary hospital.

Bolsonaro has been hospitalized multiple times since being stabbed at a campaign event before the 2018 presidential election.

The former president and several of his allies were convicted by a panel of Supreme Court justices for attempting to overthrow Brazil’s democracy following his 2022 election defeat.

The plot included plans to kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Justice de Moraes. The plan also involved encouraging an insurrection in early 2023.

The former president was also found guilty of charges including leading an armed criminal organization and attempting the violent abolition of the democratic rule of law.

Bolsonaro has always denied wrongdoing.

In Thursday’s court order, Moraes said that Bolsonaro was convicted of extremely serious crimes and that his custodial sentence was not a “hotel stay or a vacation colony” as statements from Bolsonaro’s sons’ cited in the decision “mistakenly seem to demand.”

FILE - Brazil's former President Jair Bolsonaro stands at the entrance of his home while he is under house arrest in Brasilia, Brazil, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Nova, File)