Bay Area chef and author Donia Bijan. Credit: Chronicle/Chris Hardy
Award-winning Iranian chef Donia Bijan is speaking at Bookshop Santa Cruz and the free event features food samples inspired by Bijan’s new book. The samples are being provided by the wonderful downtown Santa Cruz restaurant Laili.
The author talk, book signing, and discussion takes place Monday, October 24 at 7:30pm. Bijan’s new book, “Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen,” was published earlier this month.
Bijan spent her childhood in Tehran, Iran, helping her mother prepare traditional Persian dishes before the Islamic Revolution forced her family to flee Iran and move to the United States in 1978. Her mother was an active women’s rights advocate and former member of Parliament. Later, Bijan graduated from UC Berkeley before going to France to study at, and graduate from, Le Cordon Bleu. After working at many Bay Area restaurants and receiving accolades and awards from prestigious publications such as Gourmet and Bon Appetit, she opened her own French-inspired bistro in Palo Alto (L’Amie Donia was open for ten years before closing in 2004).
Maman’s Homesick Pie is both a memoir and a cookbook. Each chapter ends with recipes, and there are thirty in the collection. Some are inspired by her childhood (Saffron Yogurt Rice with Chicken and Eggplant and Orange Cardamom Cookies), others stem from her French training (Ratatouille with Black Olives and Fried Bread and Purple Plum Skillet Tart), and several hearken back to her cooking career (Roast Duck Legs with Dates and Warm Lentil Salad and Rose Petal Ice Cream).
On her web site, Bijan talks about her mother’s influence: “My mother wrote her recipes in prose, linking ingredients together into homespun expressions, putting you at ease, making it seem as effortless as boiling an egg. ‘Just add a handful of sugar to a pot of cherries and cook them until they stop bobbing to the surface.’ These cherries were later folded into saffron rice with slivered almonds and orange peel, but never mind that now, the cherries are tiny and take a while to pit – a task we’ll share over a cup of tea. So that’s how I learned to cook Persian food, by knowing a handful could mean a half a cup or more, that only lazy cooks don’t bother to pit stone fruit before cooking it, and patience is an essential ingredient.” Read more on her site at http://doniabijan.com.
Bijan’s debut as an author has received praise from many publications. National Geographic Traveler says, “…this literary feast accomplishes what only the best meals do, bestowing not only a satisfying culinary experience but also a larger appreciation of life’s precious table.” Publishers Weekly states that “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.”
Bijan writes beautifully about the power of food in Iranian culture and in her own family. “In my family food was the language we used to tell stories, to communicate love, share our passions, and our values. I am intrigued by the fact that a country can be ravaged by fundamentalism and war, its citizens scattered like shards of glass over the globe, and yet its food remains intact. Food allows us to hold on to something sensory, providing not only nourishment, but security, dignity, and love.”
Bijan sounds like a wonderful storyteller and chef, and her reading at Bookshop Santa Cruz is bound to be an evening to remember.
The Details
Monday, October 24, 2011, 7:30pm
Chef & Cookbook Author Donia Bijan
Bookshop Santa Cruz
1520 Pacific Avenue, Santa Cruz, 831-423-0900