𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙮. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚, 𝙬𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜.

Fatima Ali, a New York chef born in Pakistan, is known for competing in and winning an episode of Chopped on Food Network. A fan favorite, she also appeared on Bravo's Top Chef but within this memoir we are on an intimate journey from her childhood, where she shares what gave birth to her love of food and cooking, to her battle with cancer and her farewell to family, friends and fans. Tarajia Morrell was asked by Fatima to collaborate on a bucket list book based on her dream travel and meals, but life had other plans, her book became something else entirely. Cancer invaded her body, yet another obstacle in her life, one that she fought to the very end. Farezeh Durrani (a contributor), Fatima's mother, gave her daughter permission to write this book, despite knowing that she would, as Fatima said, bear the brunt of her child's searing revelations, shames and regrets. For how can Fatima give an honest rendering of her days without writing about her mother, stripping them both bare in the process? Fearless, that was always what her beloved child was, tirelessly forging a culinary career, living life on her terms, and trying to be a good example for young Pakistani girls. Some gifts are painful, and that's what this love letter to food and life is.

It is beside her maternal grandmother, Nano, whose masterful bargaining at the markets in Pakistan and delicious kitchen secrets that Fatima first apprenticed. Her father, too, loved to watch cooking shows and indulge in exotic ingredients he bought on his travels through different parts of the world. Despite being a lawyer, it was his love of food that he shared with Fatima and her brother Mohammad, encouraging them to try them all. Not even moving to the other side of the world nor the breakdown of her family could change how she felt about cooking, a lifelong passion. While this is a beautiful trip through flavors, textures and smells that inspired Fatima's future career, it is also a harrowing tale of trauma and illness. Family secrets altered her young life, and no matter how hard her mother tried to shelter her child from ugliness, to raise her to be a proper, respectful Pakistani girl, it is her own fears that cost her daughter the most. The reflections are not about punishment, it is a cleansing through confronting uncomfortable truths, as if to purge it from her soul. With Ewing’s Sarcoma (a rare bone cancer, tumor) making a return after she fights it off, robbing her of her future dreams, there isn't any time left to live in the dark. Never does the reader doubt the bond Fatima and Farezeh shared, nor does any account of the ways she failed her daughter detract from the love between them, love that not even death can erase. I believe if she could have traded places with Fatima, she would have done it without hesitation. Farezeh's chapters made me feel compassion for both of them, but nothing stunned me more than the courage that burned within Fatima. Even at her sickest, in most painful moments, she wanted to live a meaningful life, to inspire others and go forward being true to her heart's desires, shame be damned. Her strength isn't without fear, of her illness, of slowly seeing her days disappear when all she wanted was to 'cast the cancer out through sheer will'. How can it be that for all the odds she beat, the demons that didn't destroy her when she was an innocent child, that now this evil disease won't retreat? Despite her own suffering, she still cared about the children on her floor and the unjust facts of the disease that would take their lives too.

I think about Farezeh often, despite feeling deeply touched we can put the book down and move on with our lives, while ultimately it is an ever-present void for her, the place her Fatima once occupied. There is courage in her heart too, in sharing such a private relationship with the world, Fatima confessed that her mother deserves credit for the force of her will in fighting to stay alive. As a mother, I couldn't help but cry, particularly for the helplessness we feel when our children's lives are on the line. As a patient who has dealt with illnesses, I know all to well the cage of disease. The anger that boils when our body can refuse our needs, demands- so much crueler for the young. It is inspiring, beautiful and devastating. Not just a book for chefs, food lovers, or those battling cancer, it is a memoir that will move any reader. Fatima's road to a culinary career, her culture, travels, family and love make such a bittersweet memorial. Yes, read it.

Published October 11, 2022

Random House

Ballantine

This book started out really strong. The writing is beautiful, and on principal I don't rate memoirs usually just because it feels weird not to "relate" to someone else's life story. I just found myself not wanting to pick it up after I had gotten about 65% of the way through, so I am moving on to something new.

From the beginning of this memoir you know where the story ends, the author, Fatima Ali has passed away, but where she takes you in the in-between is on a brave journey from her childhood, through her hard earned career as a celebrated chef, leading to her time on Top Chef, and finally to her last days as she battled cancer.

It seems that fom the beginning Fatima was a powerhouse. Once she found a path, she not only took it with gusto, but she conquered it. In her final months, as cancer was taking over every aspect of her life, she never stopped forging ahead and decided she wanted to write a book... which is what we are seeing on shelves today. Savor is a beautiful testament to a life lived with purpose and full of heart that was cut far too short. Written by Fatima with Tarajia Morrell along with multiple chapters throughout written by her mother, Farezeh, this book is beautifully done, but will hit you hard in the gut with its honesty and with the reality of just how cruel cancer is (we already know it's terrible, but just wow, f*ck cancer). I highly recommend this book, just have tissues ready!

Savor: A Chef's Hunger for More is at times hopeful, uplifting, heartbreaking, sad and moving. Fatima Ali was a Pakistani Chef and a fan favorite on "Top Chef" in season fifteen. The world was her oyster. She hoped to change the way people looked at food and culture. She had dreams and was inspiring. She died too young.

Fatima was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. She was given a terminal diagnosis and she vowed to make her final year count. She chose to travel and try amazing food. When her illness got in the way, she came home, and began writing this book. It is heartfelt, heartbreaking and moving. Her mother, Farezeh, also wrote chapters and they had Tarajia Morrell to help with this memoir.

The book chronicles Fatima's life in Pakistan and in the United States. It shows her love of cooking, her country, and her life. I admire both Fatima and her mother's honesty and courage in sharing with the world their struggles, their triumphs, their love, and their pain.

This was a beautifully written memoir that moved me but also had me wanting to find the episodes of the cooking shows she competed in. To watch her doing what she loved and was passionate about.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

This memoir is unlike any other I have read, and I have read many. I first saw Fatima on Top Chef Season 15, and I adored her. She was upbeat and fun, had an interesting food perspective, and she made a comment about seeing the Taylor Swift 1989 Tour at a football stadium. I was so sad to learn of her passing so soon after her season of Top Chef aired.

I thought this book might focus mostly on her career and her cancer, but instead, the book spans her entire life, with chapters written from her mother's perspective woven throughout. It was beautiful and heartbreaking. I felt connected with the 29 year old Fatima writing the book, as a 28 year old woman, but also felt connected with her mother, as a mother myself. I enjoyed the varied perspectives, though it did confuse the timeline a bit when the chapters weren't perfectly lined up. It wasn't difficult to understand, though.

This is a book I will come back to again, much like I re-watch the seasons of Top Chef. It is hard to read about Fatima getting sick and sicker and finally letting go, but her book is such a beautiful testament to the full life she lived in the short time she had. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone, but especially food lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy.

Stunning memoir about Top Chef chef and fan-favorite, Fatima Ali. This is a book about so much as it was written during Fatima’s illness and then after her death. It’s gorgeous and yet difficult to read as the hardships faced in her life and within her family’s life were beyond challenging. It’s a book about strength and love and commitment. A must read. Heartfelt thanks to Ballantine - what a gift this arc is.

Fatima had many obstacles when a child and she persevered. Her dream was to become a chef, and despite ridicule and disdain from many, she accomplished that. What she didn’t figure on was being diagnosed with a ferocious cancer that would take her life.
Fatima combined her story with her mother’s to give readers a more dimensional view Of Pakistani culture, mother-daughter dynamics, and family relations.
It’s a heartbreaking book, but it’s a lesson for all of use to love each day because one never knows when the days run out.

I wasn’t quite sure what to make of this book. It is presented as an autobiography of a celebrity chef who is dying of cancer, or so I thought. It is admittedly written by Tarajia Morrell, who in fact only spent one week of actual time with Fatima. She does say she spent countless additional hours with members of the family (it is not clear whether in person or by phone or Zoom.)

Perhaps that is why, of the first five chapters, three are not about Fatima but about her mother Farezah. I think I would have liked this book better (I did like it very much) if I had known, from the description before I read it, that it was actually the story of a chef, her mother, and even her grandmother, and the dynamics of a broken and resurrected family. It’s actually also an interesting portrait of life in Pakistan, and of coming to America.

As you proceed further into the book, it becomes more and more Fatima’s voice that carries the story. In the second part, it finally becomes Fatima choosing her life path, which, in her heart, was always to become a celebrity chef. That she achieves that dream by age 29 is remarkable.

And then, in the third part, the story becomes remarkably poignant when she learns she has a rare bone cancer from which she will not recover. It broke my heart that she begins this section by saying that she had the feeling that “things were about to fall into place.” Her family (who we have come to know quite well) flies in from all over the world to support her. But some things just cannot be changed, by optimism, by faith, or by medical experts.

I felt so bad for Fatima that she did not even get her year to travel and enjoy her family and the world. But I was and am so happy that she got to know that her life’s journey would become a book to be read, hopefully by thousands. Her dream to be seen on tv and to inspire young brown women was transformed into the chance to be read and to inspire young brown women. I hope that somehow she got to know that her dream really is realized in this book.

This book broke my heart a million times over but in honor of this incredible woman I hope that everyone reads a copy. I did not know who she was until towards the end of her life when the media was covering her illness. This story is a complete tell-all of her life, her family, her dreams and just how far she would go to survive. Chapters written by her mother are equally telling and beautiful. Fatima did not have an easy life and went through some great trauma. The ability to put it into words so eloquently is astonishing. Wonderful read and a life gone way too soon. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

A gorgeous book about two strong women- Fatima and her mother Farezeh- but it's heartbreaking as well. Nothing was easy for either mother or daughter, not in Pakistan or, at first, I'm the US. This is Fatima's book but it could not have happened without the input from her mother and from her collaborator Tarajia Morrell. It's not just about the food, it's about knowing and being true to yourself. They've managed to keep this honest but not maudlin. I was not aware of Ali before her untimely death and this made me wish I'd watched her. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An excellent read.

The book is heartwarming as well as heartbreaking. From the outset, we know that Fatma does not have long to live, yet she tells her story with strength and grace.

Beautiful, touching, all around lovely and sad read. The descriptions- whether they be about food, the author's childhood, or love are wonderfully rich. I read this book in one sitting. It's a lovely tribute to Fatima.

As expected in the memoir of a young life cut short, this is a searing story, of a young Pakistani woman passionate about food and her life.

Fatima Ali gained fame competing in Chopped and Top Chef on TV. I was not familiar with her but this tale is compelling. Ali was diagnosed with a rare and deadly cancer in 2018 and died before she could take a year long trip to complete her bucket list.

This is her memoir from childhood in Pakistan on. She was always interested in food and flavor. There are a few chapters written by her mother, but most Ali wrote with the help of a gifted co-atuhor who spent only a limited amount of time with her before she died.

Ali triumphed as a Muslim, bisexual, woman of color in the male dominated world of professional cooking. Her story is brutally honest and the closing chapters have a strength and grace to them. All in all, quite a remarkable book. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Beautifully written memoir about Fatima Ali, born in Pakistan, who knew from an early age that she loved to cook. Fatima excelled in school and in athletics but had to work hard to convince her mother and father to let her go to New York to the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) to study to be a chef. This story is told from the points of view of Fatima and her mother, Farezeh, and explains all about the Pakistani culture, foods, expectations of women's roles, etc. Fatima graduated top of her class from CIA and had several jobs in New York restaurants. She also was a contestant on several cooking shows including Top Chef. She moved to California and her dream was to open her own restaurant when that dream was cut short by a diagnosis of cancer.

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC of this fantastic memoir that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, I was provided an ARC of Savor: A Chef’s Hunger for More by Fatima Ali with Tarajia Morrell via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

*****Publishing October 11, 2022*****


⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Fatima Ali was a Chef, Chopped winner, and a contestant on Bravo’s Top Chef all before she diagnosed with terminal cancer. Fatima decided when she was given the diagnosis of 1 year left to live, she wanted to write a book. Her publisher helped her to choose Tarajia Morrell to make this happen. But as plans were being made, Fatima took a turn for the worse and was given 4 months to live, instead of a year. Tarajia flew to LA to be with Fatima to figure out how to write this book.

This book features chapters written by Famtima and her mother, Farezeh. This book highlights Farezeh arraigned marriage, Farezeh’s thoughts on Fatima’s life, Fatima’s childhood where she lived in Pakistan and America, Fatima’s education, and her professional life.

From Fatima’s tumultuous childhood to her love for cooking to attending cooking school to starting her career as a Chef to coming out as a lesbian, to winning Chopped, to becoming a contestant on Top Chef, her goal was to change people’s impression of Pakistani culture and food. Also bring a level of sophistication to Pakistani food.


A wonderful tribute to Fatima, while fulfilling her last wish of a published book! A great book club book as well as a great book for those who love watching cooking shows or consider themselves a foodie!

Fatima Ali was an up and coming chef who's life was cut short because of cancer. She had been on Top Chef and was looking to expand the world's view of the food from her home country of Pakistan. Through her own story and her mother, you get to see her life's story and her work to try and make her last days count.

I love food books, so this was right up my alley. It was bittersweet because you know the ending but her death is handled beautifully . I also love how her mother's point of view helps fill in the story because who better to help tell your story than your mother. All around a beautiful story

As a Top Chef fan, Fatima Ali was one of my favorite "cheftestants," not only for her culinary expertise but also for her fun and engaging personality. Savor is her story as well as her mother's, Farezeh. With the collaboration of Tarajia Morrell, readers hear Fatima's story from childhood until her death. Morrell gives us an in-depth look into the drive and compassion that propelled Fatima into the culinary world and how she wanted to marry her love of cooking with her desire to help young Pakistani girls gain a stronger foothold in society.

Alternating chapters by Fatima's mother, Farezeh, provide readers with even more insight into Fatima's early years and the struggle that Farezeh had as a young, divorced woman in a country where divorce was frowned on. Despite the sadness of this book, I would classify it as an uplifting and engaging read of a strong and determined young woman whose life was cut far too short.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Random House Publishing Group -- Ballantine Books for providing this ARC of #Savor.

First, thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a digit ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I very much enjoyed this interesting, touching, honest, heart breaking memoir. So sad to lose someone so young in the prime of their life, but I admire her approach to death. What a wonderful legacy that she spent her last days compiling her story to share with all of us. It must have been hard for Fatima and her family to lay everything out in the open, and hopefully it will be a guide to those in similar situations overcoming prejudices, abuse, cultural expectations to rise above and be the best version of yourself as you seek your dreams and ambitions. I wanted to be along on a tasting journey with her as she followed her culinary dreams and her bucket list menus. I enjoyed her openness, her vulnerability, her sense of humor, and the spirituality she embraced as her death grew closer.

Pakistani chef Fatima Ali gained fame on American reality TV, competing on Chopped and Top Chef. Before dying of cancer in 2019 at the age of 29, she set out to publicize her country's cuisine, to establish her own restaurant empire, to ease child poverty in the streets of Karachi, and to write a book about realizing her bucket list. Sadly, she didn't have enough time to accomplish all her goals, and thus the subtitle. She lived a fascinating life and shared all details freely, honoring her family members and friends while also calling out those who'd harmed her. I would love to know what happened to those individuals. I also would have loved if there had been photos of the author included, but there are many lovely ones available at her website: www.cheffatimafoundation.org

Some of the book's chapters are narrated by Fatima herself, and others by her mother; I'm not sure if this was the very best option, but understand that might be the only way to finish a book when the author dies. Fatima and her mother are both such strong-willed and empowered women, I loved reading their voices, and how they conducted themselves regardless of whatever strict social norms stood in traditionally patriarchal, conservative Pakistan. Granted, it is very sad that Fatima succumbed to "the ghoul" but I hope this book brings attention to Ewing sarcoma, a little-known pediatric cancer and also to the "level of incompetence" that can be associated with the healthcare management in this country.

We have loved Top Chef from day one. Therefore, when offered it, I chose to read this book to get lowdown on what it was like for a contestant. I didn't know that I would be getting so much more. Fatima Ali was a memorable force during her time on that show, selected by viewers as Fan Favorite, and her passion for her native Pakistani cuisine was paramount. She saw this appearance as a stepping stone toward her ultimate goal, that of opening her own restaurant and introducing those distinct flavors to American palates. Tragically, her wish list evolved into a bucket list of restaurants worldwide in order to taste specialties of renown chefs, of which she wanted to become a member. Her dreams cut short by a virulent, cruel cancer, taking her life before the age of 30. This memoir is a marvel. Despite the tragedies, it is never maudlin or self pitying, and the fact that Fatima's words were processed and presented by Tarajia Morrell, who only had a week to work with her, remarkable. Interspersed are chapters by Fati's mother, Farezeh, heartfelt and wrenching. The world has lost the chance to celebrate Fati's talent and appreciate her food, but Farezeh lost a piece of her heart yet bravely contributed to this beautiful book. I was reminded of When Breath Becomes Air, by Dr. Paul Kalinithi, written during his final months and finished by his wife, Lucy. Both books will occupy the same chamber of my heart.