The Jackfruit Chronicles
- Author Shahnaz Ahsan
- Narrator Rima Ahmed
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date 31 July 2025
- Run Time 5 hours and 45 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Local and family history, nostalgia, Memoirs, Migration, immigration and emigration, National and regional cuisine, Social and cultural history, Travel writing.
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What to expect
From award-winning food writer and novelist Shahnaz Ahsan comes a heartfelt memoir: The Jackfruit Chronicles.
With insight and love, Ahsan guides us through the vibrant flavours and captivating story of Bengali food and its place in Britain. Beginning with the arrival of her grandfather, Habib, in Manchester in the 1950s, this is a spellbinding journey not just through one family story, but also the broader tale of the Bangladeshi diaspora’s quest for a new life in Britain.
Ahsan beautifully weaves together this narrative of migration and hope with treasured family recipes, including dishes like sour tomato broth, jackfruit kofta curry, lentil fritters, fish with clementine peels and much more.
The Jackfruit Chronicles is a moving exploration of family, food and what it means to belong.
Critics Review
'Despite coming from different backgrounds, growing up, and living in completely different environments, I resonated with Shahnaz's story greatly. The family ties, the immigrant experience, the meaning of home and how food plays such a central part in it all. The Jackfruit Chronicles is full of heart and wit that's deliciously enriching' Angela Hui
n'An important and overdue story of a community served with a side helping of delicious and precious family memories. I devoured it.' Mallika Basu
n'So much more than a cookbook, The Jackfruit Chronicles is balm for the soul: a heartwarming story told with love, compassion – and a host of gorgeous recipes.' Orlando Murrin
n‘Shahnaz writes beautifully about food’ Dina Begum
n‘A thoroughly enjoyable, inspiring and uplifting read. It made me deeply nostalgic about significant dishes in my own life’ Sejal Sukhadwala
n'It's an intimate, touching and fascinating story of a family's resilience and adaptability … Threaded through the family history – the sorrows, joys, upheavals – is food, the great connector to place and people … An evocative, thought-provoking and deeply appetising read.' Jenny Linford
n'A vital read to not only understand a South Asian diaspora identity, but also what it means to be British … wonderful storytelling that keeps you engaged and glued to the page, dotted with recipes that entice you further into the story – full of humour, fun and love.' Anna Sulan Masing
n'My favourite type of cookbook is the culinary memoir, where each recipe is given life and colour and love. Shahnaz’s may be the best I have ever read.' MiMi Aye
n'A mesmerizing blend of memoir and migration stories, woven together with recipes that share the larger narrative of Bangladeshi belonging. The writing draws you in from the first page, accompanied with dishes that linger on both the tongue and in the heart. This culinary journey captures the essence of diasporic identity, heritage, and home.' Sumayya Usmani
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