A lot about Savor by Fatima Ali & Tarajia Morrell resonates with me - the cultural context; the immigrant story; the power of food to unite; and the story of a young life sadly cut short. Fatima Ali's story is one I was going to remember even before reading this book. Reading this book and learning of the other challenges she and her mother overcame further reinforces that this is a life to remember.

Read my complete review at http://www.memoriesfrombooks.com/2024/04/savor.html

#Savor reviewed for #NetGalley.

As a big fan of cooking shows, I knew and loved Fatima while she was on Top Chef. Her season is one of the best seasons as this showcases so many talented chefs from all different backgrounds. I loved this season because these chefs were truly rooting for each other along the way. 
Fatima was one of the most memorable chefs from this season. She was so creative and talented. She was a fan favorite for sure. Hearing about her illness and death was so heartbreaking. She was so young and had so much life ahead of her. 
I am so thankful that she chose to spend her last months writing her memoir and was able to share her story. Her mother also aided in her memoir, telling her side of things, including Fatima's childhood, rise to fame, and death. 
This book contains heavy subject matter at times, Fatima's childhood trauma and her battle with cancer are talked about heavily.

I truly enjoyed this memoir from Fatima Ali. Though the reader knows the ending, it doesn't distract from experiencing every moment along with the author. Recommended for anyone who enjoys travel, food, and family stories.

A huge fan of Fatima Ali from Top Chef Colorado, I knew I had to read this book and was so excited to get an ARC last fall. The book includes chapters from Fatima and her mom, brought together by her collaborator. I had trouble getting into the writing, as there were a few things in the collaborator’s opening section that bothered me. This is not a judgment on Fatima or her accomplishments. I decided to pause the book, and I revisited it via audiobook this summer, loving this version. For one thing, listening allowed me an easier time to sob as often as I needed to without affecting my view of the pages! The book covers Fatima’s life growing up in Pakistan and her immigration to the US to attend the Culinary Institute of America. This is an emotional read, containing early childhood trauma and Fati’s cancer diagnosis in 2017 after filming Top Chef. Fatima died at age 29 in early 2019. The book recently received a James Beard Foundation Award.
Thanks to Random House - Ballantine Books for the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. Savor is available everywhere, and I especially recommend the audiobook.

I received a free copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I really really wanted to like this book, but it took me months to get through because of how repetitive the writing was. This is in no way a judgment of Fatima Ali or her accomplishments, or the tragedy of her death from cancer. But this book is not well written. It easily could have been a hundred pages shorter and just as, if not more, meaningful. The majority of the book felt just like an info dump about her life without any significant reflection. The repetitive romanticizing of becoming a chef and food was so frequent and almost copy paste that it made the book feel even longer. There were so many parts of Ali’s identity or life that were important but any writing about it felt incredibly surface level. Often times it even felt like there were conflicting views within the book, but with out any kind of connection to piece together the change or growth. The two chapters out of almost fifty that actually stood out to me were actually written from her mother Farezah’s perspective. There were also heavy topics such as child abuse and sexual assault that should have been noted as content warnings.

This book just breaks me further from the passing of Fatima Ali at such a young age. A very good legacy

Thank you #Negalley.

Wow, this is a raw moving story of a young adult with so much potential whose life was cut far too short. I loved watching Chef Fatima on Top Chef and seeing her journey progress. I remember hearing about her diagnosis and admiring her passion to live life to the fullest with so much ambition still. Reading this was emotional, it was nicely complimented by her families experience as well.

'Savor' is an absolutely heart-wrenching memoir that packs a lot of heft into a fairly-short package. There are many difficult, but important topics discussed here including: racism, colorism, misogyny, sexual abuse, and terminal illness. But there is also so much hope and inspiration to be found in both Fatima Ali's story as well as her mother's.

Thanks so much for the review copy. I enjoyed this memoir. It definitely made me hungry. Thanks again for the review copy

Savor was an absolutely incredible read. Not only was Fatima Ali's story heartrending and inspiring, but Tarajia Morrell's ghostwriting was an achievement that should also be recognized. While this was a devastating book to read, it was also an enrapturing and visceral chef's tale--you can practically taste and smell the food described on the page.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

As a fan of Fatima from her appearance at Top Chef, I knew I had to read this book - forever grateful for receiving this ARC. All I knew about her was the pieces/parts you saw on TC. I had no idea she had so much depth to her life and story.

This memoir starts with the writer meeting Fatima in the hospital to help her write her memoir during what she believes is the last year of her life. Then the devastating news, her cancer is much more aggressive than thought, maybe weeks, not a year.

Then with chapters written by Fatima and her mom, Fatima's story goes back to her grandparents and comes forward. I cannot fathom what her mom has gone through regarding Fatima's health - physical and mental. From being born and having a complication at delivery through losing her at 29 to cancer.

Fatima's story of being a Pakistani woman in a mans world with views that wanted to hold her back. From her childhood, she had wanted to emulate her big brother and do everything he could. When the culture told her she couldn't - she pushed back by exceling at sports. When she graduated from a prestigious high school and wanted to become a chef, everyone said she was wasting her time. She proved them wrong! Fatima blazed a path to set an example for little brown girls everywhere.

This story makes me want to go out and explore the restaurants around me and travel to experience the things that Fatima could not.

Maybe I should have known better, but I didn’t think anything of it when I started reading this book. I thought maybe it was just another memoir of how someone made their dream come true, and that would have been interesting enough. So, when I read the preface and realized this was a memoir for someone who is no longer with us, and on top of it died young, I didn’t know what to think. This is the story of Fatima Ali, a little brown girl, who was born in Pakistan, and never let the world tell her something was impossible. Fatima may only have had 29 years, but I can say from reading her story that she really seems to have lived. She didn’t get everything she wanted, but she did so much, from attending one of the best cooking schools to going on Top Chef. At her heart she was a brilliant chef, who just wanted to bring the world good food, and a message; Pakistan has a lot to offer the world besides terrorists. The challenge for the writer here was to convey the message of Fatima Ali without being Fatima, and I would say in that mission Tarajia Morrel has succeeded beautifully. This story has it all, humor, tragedy and a wonderful story. If you have any heart whatsoever though be prepared to ugly cry your way through this, for how unfair it is that Fatima is gone, for all her suffering, the ways that the American healthcare system failed her, and above all for the family she left behind who carries on without her. It’s definitely worth reading whether you had heard of Fatima Ali, or like me, had no idea who she was. It doesn’t matter, her life can mean something to everyone. Review posted to Amazon, Goodreads, Litsy, LibraryThing, Facebook and Instagram

I'd never heard of chef Fatima Ali before I read the book. I've never watched Chopped or Top Chef on which she appeared, but that did not at all keep me from devouring her memoir. Though her story is so heartbreaking and sad, it is also filled with hope and inspiration.

This was a very somber posthumous memoir. If you love food and learning about new cultures this is the book for you.

Fatima Ali, a chef who became well known after being a contestant on Top Chef, worked with writer Tarajia Morrell on this book during the last few months of her life. Bone cancer never took her spirit, though it did take her life. Savor was her bucket list book, based on her dreams to travel around the world and savor in the cuisine. Though Fatima and Tarajia only spent one week together, this book was born from those conversations and ones with her family. Her mother Farezeh wrote the foreward, promising the tales of both her childhood and that of Fatima. The stories of both women were weaved together, showing both during their time in Pakistan to their lives in the United States.

Though Fatima never made it on the trip around the world, she was able to tell her story. She was one of my favorite people on Top Chef overall and it saddened me to read her last words. A talented and promising chef, Fatima Ali was taken from the world and her family way too soon.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of Savor from NetGalley and the publisher. The decision to read and review this memoir was entirely my own.

Fatima is inspiring, courageous, and incredibly resilient. Her story is filled with triumphs and tribulations. We hear the story from the perspectives of Fatima and her mother, two remarkably able and strong women making a life for themselves. The alternating perspectives provide a well-rounded narrative of difficult situations and the incredible bond between mother and daughter is evident. Fatima's ambition and drive are deeply inspiring and the accomplishments she was able to achieve in her abbreviated lifetime are astounding. The chapters about her health struggles are heart-wrenching, but her lively spirit permeates every painful side effect she had to endure. The love of her family and her own passion for food never wavers.

This book reminded me so much of another memoir focused acutely on Pakistani life and food, Fatty Fatty Boom Boom: A Memoir of Food, Fat, and Family. In both memoirs, the descriptions of food are vivid and mouth-watering, and the rich cultural context is incredibly compelling. The writing is so well-done, and both Farezeh and Fatima are extraordinarily articulate. Tarajia Morrell's contributions were woven in seamlessly, and the collaboration was done remarkably well.

Fatima is an inspiration and she will be remembered for the exceptional woman she was.

I wasn't familiar with Fatima Ali before reading this book. I picked it up because I was curious about the Pakistani chef who wanted to use food to serve her country. And based on the description, I hoped to learn more about her enthusiasm for cooking.
This book was a little disappointing, though. I appreciate the honesty shared within, including tough stories about sexual abuse, racism and lack of proper medical treatment.
Part of my discontentment was the drawn-out stories. I found myself skimming multiple chapters.
And I wasn't expecting to read stories from her mother's point of view. However, she is indeed a brave woman who raised a brave woman.

I picked this up because I LOVED Fatima on Top Chef and loosely followed her cancer battle. Reading her story was incredible, and made more powerful by entwining her story with her mother's.

Tarajia Morrell took a trusted story and wove it phenomenally.


Fatima Ali was born in Pakistan already fighting to exert her will (being born when nurses told her to wait) and her determination (fighting subsequent pneumonia). Spending part of her childhood in Texas with her aunt's family then in Pakistan, her story and her mother's overlap to describe how her mother was a dominant figure in showing Fatima how to ignore what others say, fighting for oneself and asserting what one is capable of doing regardless of cultural naysayers. Following this example, Fatima chose to go to the Culinary Art Institute, become a chef in the kitchens of New York City, attempt TV competitions, and endure her largest battle- Ewing's Carcoma and the struggle to come to terms with dying.

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#savor

I’m a big Top Chef fan, a Fatima Ali fan, and a love of memoirs and foodie books, so I was so excited to read Savor, Fatima Ali’s memoir.

The book tells her life’s story starting with her childhood in Pakistan, then through her culinary training, and ending with her death at 29 from sarcoma.

The book was definitely more memoir than foodie book – much of it is spent discussing her at times traumatic childhood. It was well written and interesting but I kept hoping we’d get to more food content.

The middle third is about her education at the Culinary Institute of America and the start of her career. And then the final chapters of the book emotionally describe her battle with cancer.

I enjoyed learning more about Chef Fati and would recommend this book to foodie readers who like memoirs so long as they have the patience for a bit of a slow burn read.

‘Perhaps if parents could look at their children and ask, ‘Are they kind? Are they giving? Are they honest?’ And finding that they are, feel there’s reason enough to love them, no matter what else they are, then there would be less suffering.’