Anna Maria Zetterstrand was a cook who was employed for refined celebrations. Her cookery book was published in 1863 and was then reprinted in new editions until 1905.

Not much is known about Anna Maria Zetterstrand. She is said to have been born in Närke, but she does not appear in archival sources until the 1790s at which point she was listed as a housekeeper at Norsholm manor in Östergötland. In 1797 she married Gottfrid Zetterstrand, a master tailor in Norrköping and together they had four or five children, all of whom survived into adulthood. According to the foreword in the cookery book published by one of her daughters almost 20 years after Anna Maria Zetterstrand’s death all the recipes reflected the experience she had gained working as a cook within aristocratic households.

Anna Maria Zetterstrand was a high-quality cook who was often employed to provide for larger functions. Further to this she also taught the art of cooking. Her enterprise was comprehensive and at her shop in Norrköping she was flooded with commissions arriving from near and far. Her daughter Sofia Maria assisted in this work and, following Anna Maria Zetterstrand’s death, she continued running her mother’s business. It was the daughter who edited her mother’s collection of recipes which were first published in book form in 1863, entitled Kök- och Hushålls-bok, grundad på 80-årig öfning och erfarenhet i kokkonsten och hushållningen. The final edition from 1905 includes an appendix with plates depicting how to butcher slaughtered animals.

The recipes in Anna Maria Zetterstrand’s cookery book reflect a form of housekeeping which focused on locally-produced raw goods and which took the approach of letting nothing go to waste despite being intended for refined occasions.

Anna Maria Zetterstrand died in Norrköping in 1844. She was 77 years of age.