cover image Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen

Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen

Donia Bijan. Algonquin, $19.95 (272p) ISBN 978-1-56512-957-3

As a chef, Bijan is known for blending the cultures and cuisines of the places she’s called home: Iran, France, and America. She does the same in her wonderfully written memoir, sharing memories of her childhood in Iran that are so well rendered, readers will easily envision her father making a simple, sumptuous salad or her mother offering bites of delicious seasonal cheeses. Her parents, well-respected founders of a busy obstetric hospital, were named as infidels during the Islamic revolution, so the family fled to California in 1978. Bijan writes movingly of her parents’ accomplishments, their difficulty adjusting to their new home, and her own burgeoning love of food and cooking. What began in her parents’ kitchen in Iran continued in America, and took her to Paris and the famed Cordon Bleu school. After apprenticeships in France and California, Bijan was chef at a high-end San Francisco hotel and had her own well-reviewed bistro for a decade. Like the perfect dessert, each chapter ends with recipes, from a pomegranate granita she savored in Iran to cardamom honey madeleines evocative of France. (Oct.)