The Jackfruit Chronicles: A tale of migration, love and identity told through one family’s recipes and their search for home

by Shahnaz Ahsan

From award-winning food writer and novelist Shahnaz Ahsan comes a heartfelt 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.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction

316 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 17, 2025

Reviews

[Kelly Hollingworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extremely interesting and informative book covering the author’s ancestry, various places around the world she has called home and of course recipes for delicious Bengali food. I learnt about the jackfruit, the national fruit of Bangladesh and how it is messy and milky, stubborn and syrupy. I learnt about the migration of the author’s family - pioneers of their time, about Bengal hospitality, about the traditions at weddings and death, about difficult and dark times. I loved the included photographs which enhanced the book, seeing the faces of family members. The book has many recipes which had me genuinely salivating, I am desperate to try some of them! These recipes though are more than just physical ingredients, there is the secret ingredient of love. I felt the love in this personal memoir about family, food and cultural fusion. I highly recommend a read and trying a recipe or three.

[Firoze Cassim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It dealt with migration, family ties, and the harsh realities of settling in England with the difficulties of finding work and confronting racism. However, it also captured the extraordinary resilience of the Bangladeshi people.
The added bonus of all the wonderful recipes makes one want to reach for the kitchen and light up the stove. A good light read that I managed to finish in a few days.

[Valeria Gaeta · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I ever needed from a memoir: the story of a family through recipes and food- related memories. 10/5

[Smith Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Jackfruit Chronicles by Shahnaz Ahsan is a tender, richly textured exploration of migration, memory, and belonging told through the language of food. Beginning with the arrival of her grandfather, Habib, in Manchester in the 1950s, Ahsan traces not only one family’s journey, but the broader story of the Bangladeshi diaspora and its search for home in Britain.

What makes this book especially powerful is the seamless weaving of personal history with culinary tradition. Recipes such as sour tomato broth, jackfruit kofta curry, lentil fritters, and fish with clementine peels are not presented as mere instructions they are living archives of resilience, adaptation, and cultural continuity. Each dish becomes a narrative thread connecting generations across geography and time.

Ahsan’s prose is intimate yet expansive, balancing sensory detail with historical insight. She captures the emotional complexity of migration hope, sacrifice, reinvention while celebrating food as a keeper of identity. The result is both memoir and cultural history, deeply personal yet widely resonant.

The Jackfruit Chronicles will strongly appeal to readers of food writing, diaspora narratives, intergenerational memoirs, and anyone drawn to stories where heritage and home are rediscovered through the act of cooking.

[Ray Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it for an amazing, powerful, sometimes tragic, sometimes uplifting, story of how a Bangladeshi family arrived, survived and thrived in Britain.

Read it for tasty, authentic recipes. I've never managed to get pulao rice quite right until I read this book. Her aubergine and aloo bhorta are also fantastic.

Read it because you want beautiful writing about food and culture and how it shapes who we are.

As someone with Bangladeshi heritage, I thought the author captured so many of the little features I hadn't realized I/we do differently until she pointed them out. She has a fascinating story to share, and keeps the book fast-paced by mixing in recipes with stories. Definitely recommend!

[Florence · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute page turner and best of all inspired me to try out some new recipes, tuna cakes went down well in our household.
A beautifully woven family story through food memories - what's not to love?