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My Ackee Tree: A Chef's Memoir of Finding Home in the Kitchen

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For fans of The Measure of My Powers and Notes from a Young Black Chef, a memoir about food, family, and the recipes that brought one woman home, just when she needed it the most.


Suzanne Barr's journey to become a chef started when she was 30. Her mother was diagnosed with cancer and she moved home to Florida to take care of her. Suzanne escorted her mother to doctor's appointments, bathed her, and kept her company, but the hardest part of the experience was that she didn't know how to cook for her. She didn't even know where to begin.

Fast-forward to the summer of 2017 when Suzanne became the inaugural Chef-in-Residence at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. She wanted to create a menu that represented who she was as a chef and it emerged as a love letter to her mother. Her Rite of Passage Menu, as she called it, changed her. It started her on a journey that has brought her closer to her mother, to her ancestors, and to her Jamaican heritage.

But a lot has happened before and since.

Homecoming tells the story of a woman who is always on the move, always seeking; who battles the stereotypes of being a Black female cook to become a culinary star in an industry beset by dated practices and landlords with too much power. From the ackee tree in front of her childhood home, through New York City, Atlanta, Hawaii, the Hamptons, and France, Suzanne takes us on her unpredictable journey, and at every turn, she finds light and comfort in the kitchen. Told in a voice as fresh and honest as her cooking, Homecoming is a celebration of creativity, soul searching, and motherhood that asks, "How can I keep the things I love?"

248 pages, Hardcover

Published April 5, 2022

9 people are currently reading
484 people want to read

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Suzanne Barr

5 books8 followers

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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
Profile Image for Dayla.
2,771 reviews217 followers
April 20, 2022
I don't normally read memoirs, so imagine my surprise by how absorbed I was by Barr's book. Her book made me feel so many different emotions and I honestly couldn't stop feeling in awe of everything she has accomplished so far, even if tragedy and heartbreak has been sprinkled here and there into her life.

This was an incredibly powerful and heartfelt read. The relationships that Barr explores, like the one with her mother, and how they affected her growing up were eye-opening. It goes to show how even the smallest moments in our lives have the power to serve as life lessons later on.

Barr, to me, is really cool. She chose a massive career change at an unconventional age (by societal standards) and literally risked it all to go on her journey towards success. That's admirable and makes this book a super important read.

Anyway, if you want to read a memoir about a powerful black woman taking control of her life, experiencing some of the things we're all too afraid to go for, and who shares with us her most vulnerable moments in her life, then this is definitely the book for you!

Happy reading!
Profile Image for Christina (Christinasdialectic).
52 reviews12 followers
February 11, 2022
My Ackee Tree is a memoir full of food and heart. Suzanne Barr is vulnerable and open as she recounts her journey to becoming a chef. This journey takes her from her childhood home in Plantation, Florida, to New York City for college and in search of her independence. Soon, she finds herself in Atlanta, where she discovers her activist spirit. However, before long, she returns to Florida to care for her ailing mum. While grieving the loss of her mother, Barr sets off again. Her travels take her back to New York City and subsequently to culinary school. Post culinary school, she spends some time in Hawaii, the Hamptons, and France before eventually settling in Toronto, where she opens her own restaurant.

Barr is candid about the challenges and losses she’s faced along the way and offsets them with her strength and leaps of faith. From learning to quell self-doubts to navigate being a Black female in white-male dominated spaces and vindictive landlords and business partners. As Barr recounts each challenge, she contrasts it with her takeaways and lessons learned in a way that both educates and inspires her readers. Those who have limited knowledge of culinary school or the restaurant industry shouldn’t shy away from reading My Ackee Tree. Barr does a great job of explaining and illustrating those spaces for those unfamiliar with them.

Sometimes it’s not about what is waiting for us at our destination but about how we’ve changed and grown during the process. Barr seamlessly weaves themes of grief, race, identity, activism, and community through her journey while highlighting the importance of the journey itself. It’s unmistakable that Barr is deeply influenced and inspired by the places she’s been, the experiences she’s had, and the people she’s met. Each one has not only shaped her but also directly or indirectly influenced the rest of the journey. She carries them with her in her soul and infuses them into everything she does, especially her food. My Ackee Tree reads like an ode of thanksgiving for the people, places, and experiences that have inspired her the most.

Thank you, Penguin Random House, for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for 2TReads.
866 reviews49 followers
March 22, 2022
I loved this food, family memoir combination. Full review to come.
Profile Image for Enid Wray.
1,336 reviews58 followers
May 7, 2022
A nice complement to my recent read of The Next Supper by Corey Mintz. Different as this is a Memoir - but it covers significant amounts of similar ground from a more personal perspective.

In many ways this is also similar to another favourite from last year, Marie Henein’s Nothing But the Truth. This is the story of a young black woman - born in Toronto, raised in Florida - whose family, and self, bounced around all over the place in the ‘classic’ immigrant experience. Food was always an important part of keeping the family connected, and it was in many ways ‘natural’ for the author to navigate to a career in food and hospitality - despite the misgivings of various family members at times along the way.

I enjoyed the first half of the book where the author explores her early years - her family experience - the immigrant experience, racism, the (BIPOC) drug epidemic, the (BIPOC) incarceration epidemic. Then it moves on to her adult life, the evolution of her black feminism and passion for cooking, and community.

But it is in the second half that this book finds itself - when she, as an adult, bounces around from job to job, country to country, in school and/or working, to finally opening her own restaurant and dealing with her grief over the loss of her Mum (she died twenty years earlier). It is her exploration of being a black business woman in an industry dominated by white men - and at the mercy of financial backers whose bottom line is different than her own - where this book truly sings.

Mind, there are issues of formatting and typesetting (and I read an ‘official’ e-book copy duly borrowed from the Library, not a digital ARC). Things I would strongly recommend be addressed/fixed if there were ever to be a second print run of this title.

Annoyances like that the photo captions are all listed on a page at the back of the book. Why can’t the photos be captioned along the way so that we have context for why a given photo is included at a particular moment? As it is they are teeny little inclusions - that take up entire pages by the way.

Then there is the font and formatting - there is no note about the font but it looks like ‘Georgia’ and it must be at least 20 point, with lots of space between the lines. All of which is to say that this is a quick fast read, but is also lacks depth in places (especially in the aforementioned first half).

This issue is magnified in the last 50 pages - the recipes. They are typeset in (a different) huge font - but the real problem is the way they are formatted on the page. They start - and finish - in random places on any given page… with no thought to how someone would actually use the recipe - taking a screenshot or printing them for instance.
Profile Image for Shannon.
7,173 reviews392 followers
May 6, 2022
I honestly didn't know much about Suzanne Barr going into this book but I enjoyed her memoir so, so much! Born in Toronto, she grew up in Plantation Florida. She talks about losing her mother to cancer, finding love, becoming a mother, working in the restaurant industry and trying to run her own restaurant with her partner in Toronto, plus how they effect the pandemic had on their business. Very personal and relatable stories told from a bar-setting woman of color in a male-dominated industry. I loved how much Suzanne valued using local, paying fair wages and being an ethical employer. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys reading about strong, impressive women entrepreneurs or memoirs about professional chefs. Great on audio read by the author too.

CW: abortion, death of a parent to cancer
1 review
January 4, 2023
I really liked this Memoir. My Ackee Tree is Suzanne Barr’s memoir where she opens up about life decisions and her joys as a mom and Chef. As she said it’s her journey about “ Finding home in the kitchen”. I like how open she was and her life, failures and helps us to understand those decisions and how they make her who she is today. She takes us back to her childhood and gives us a glimpse of her Jamaican heritage hence the reference to the ‘Ackee’ which is a part of the country’s national dish
Profile Image for Gemington.
538 reviews1 follower
December 29, 2022
TW: cancer, parental loss, racism, abortion

Yay! A memoir that includes the recipes in the audiobook. Thank you. I’m not sure how I came across this story, but it was inspiring to read about Suzanne’s experiences growing up in Toronto and Florida. The book is a lovely tribute to her mother. I look forward to seeing what this cook and author gets up to next.
Profile Image for Katherine Chrisman.
25 reviews
February 16, 2023
This book covers themes of food, place, family, and connection with casual writing and intriguing recipes. Barr’s varied experiences cooking and traveling around the world are fascinating. Yet this book stops just short of delving into stories that would make it truly compelling, opting instead to focus on more perfunctory narratives.
9 reviews
June 2, 2022
A nice memoir of this chef. It was good to read of her life experiences and how they contribute to her chosen occupation.
Profile Image for Kim.
1,440 reviews14 followers
September 27, 2022
I've seen Suzanne Barr on Wall of Chef's and enjoyed her comments to the contestants, now I feel I know her much better! Just sorry I never got to either of her Toronto restaurants.
Profile Image for Stephanie Ridiculous.
470 reviews11 followers
February 16, 2024
I came into this not knowing anything about Barr, and I think that impacted my ability to settle in. The first part of the memoir is a little meander-y, and since I didn't have the pre-existing affection for her I struggled a bit. The memoir gets better as it goes on, and particularly once we settle into the swing of restaurant life. I think I was expecting a bit more regarding caring for her mother based on the blurb, and I feel like the connection between wanting to cook for her turning into the inspiration to become a chef was kind of glossed over, despite being our catalyst.

I love that Barr frequently touches on justice movements and advocacy in her work, but was disappointed that her time in Hawaii wasn't presented with a more critical lens retroactively. While she does touch on how awful it is that Big Corps interfere with the ability to eat locally grown/sourced food, she doesn't at all acknowledge that perhaps she, as a foreigner, shouldn't have been spending time living on the island in the first place - even though she does ask similar questions about her visit to Jamaica. I'm unsure if I just missed a nuance in my listening, or if it wasn't there at all.

As a former kitchen worker in a female body there is much in Barr's memoir that I can deeply resonate with and I was glad to hear her perspective on the industry specifically as a Black woman. Overall I enjoyed this, and in particular appreciate that the recipes in the back are narrated in the audio book.
130 reviews9 followers
June 12, 2022
I won this book from Goodreads and what an amazing book it is. I couldn't put it down. It's the story of chef Suzanne Barr and her family background. It's the story of a family who went from Jamaica to England, to Canada, to the US and back to Canada and of how all the influences these ups and downs in her life have shaped her. It's an inspiring story of her love of food, her love of cooking, her wanting to make life better for those in the food industry.

It's a beautifully written, inspiring story that grabs you emotionally from the first page and doesn't let go.
Profile Image for L.C. Tang.
Author 2 books199 followers
March 9, 2024
An interesting combination of a recipe book and memoir. Suzanne shares her journey to become a chef and how she deals with life's challenges along the way which forced her to learn to cook in taking care of her cancer stricken mother in Florida. Suzanne ends up in Canada working in a hotel and today she is an accomplished chef and at her true calling. Some great recipes and colour pictures throughout the book.
Profile Image for Marie.
1,001 reviews79 followers
January 17, 2024
I discovered Suzanne Barr on "Wall of Chefs" and began following her on social media. This was a beautiful story about her love affair with food and home.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews

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