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)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's executive on Wednesday warned that it would take action against any “unjustified measures” after the U.S. State Department barred five Europeans it accuses of pressuring U.S. technology firms to censor or suppress American viewpoints.

The Europeans were characterized by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as “radical” activists and “weaponized” nongovernmental organizations. They include the former EU commissioner responsible for supervising social media rules, Thierry Breton.

Breton, a businessman and former French finance minister, clashed last year on social media with tech billionaire Elon Musk over broadcasting an online interview with Donald Trump in the months leading up to the U.S. election.

The European Commission, the EU’s powerful executive branch and which supervises tech regulation in Europe, said that it “strongly condemns the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions” and that it has requested clarification about the move. French President Emmanuel Macron also condemned it.

“If needed, we will respond swiftly and decisively to defend our regulatory autonomy against unjustified measures,” the commission said in a statement, without elaborating.

Rubio wrote in an X post on Tuesday that “for far too long, ideologues in Europe have led organized efforts to coerce American platforms to punish American viewpoints they oppose.”

“The Trump Administration will no longer tolerate these egregious acts of extraterritorial censorship,” he posted.

The European Commission countered that “the EU is an open, rules-based single market, with the sovereign right to regulate economic activity in line with our democratic values and international commitments.”

“Our digital rules ensure a safe, fair, and level playing field for all companies, applied fairly and without discrimination,” it said.

Macron said that the visa restrictions “amount to intimidation and coercion aimed at undermining European digital sovereignty,” he posted on X.

Macron said that the EU’s digital rules were adopted by “a democratic and sovereign process” involving all member countries and the European Parliament. He said that the rules “ensure fair competition among platforms, without targeting any third country.”

He underlined that “the rules governing the European Union’s digital space are not meant to be determined outside Europe.”

Breton and the group of Europeans fell afoul of a new visa policy announced in May to restrict the entry of foreigners deemed responsible for censorship of protected speech in the United States.

The four others are: Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate; Josephine Ballon and Anna-Lena von Hodenberg, leaders of HateAid, a German organization; and Clare Melford, who runs the Global Disinformation Index.

Rubio said the five had advanced foreign government censorship campaigns against Americans and U.S. companies, which he said created “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences” for the United States.

The action to bar them from the U.S. is part of a Trump administration campaign against foreign influence over online speech, using immigration law rather than platform regulations or penalties.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Sarah Rogers, the U.S. under secretary of state for public diplomacy, called Breton the “mastermind” behind the EU’s Digital Services Act, which imposes a set of strict requirements designed to keep internet users safe online. This includes flagging harmful or illegal content like hate speech.

Breton responded on X by noting that all 27 EU member countries voted for the Digital Services Act in 2022. “To our American friends: ‘Censorship isn’t where you think it is,’” he wrote.

Angela Charlton contributed to this report from Paris.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a news conference at the State Department, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)