Donia Bijan
Author and Chef | Movable Type Management
San Francisco, CA, UNITED STATES
Bring Extra Napkins! Food can tell the most wonderful stories with celebrated chef & author of the memoir, Maman’s Homesick Pie
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Biography
Donia Bijan is a San Francisco Bay Area chef who left Iran in 1978 when her parents’ lives were threatened by the Islamic Revolution. Fearing for her mother’s safety, an outspoken women’s rights advocate and former member of parliament, her family settled in the Bay Area and was advised not to return to Iran.
After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1984, Donia went to Paris to attend the Cordon Bleu. Determined to pursue a culinary career, she secured apprenticeships in France’s three star kitchens before returning to San Francisco to preside over many of the city’s acclaimed restaurants and earning awards for her French inspired cuisine. In 1994 she realized her dream of opening of her own restaurant, L’Amie Donia, a celebrated French bistro in Palo Alto, California.
Since closing her restaurant in 2004, Ms. Bijan has divided her days between raising her son, catering, and writing a memoir where she reimagines her passion for cooking as a vessel to travel back and forth between the kitchens of her childhood and the formal kitchens of her training, illuminating the experience of exile, and drawing from her Persian, French, and American pantry to thread ties between cultures.
Industry Expertise (3)
Women
Restaurant/Food Service
Food and Beverages
Areas of Expertise (4)
Food Writing
Food Memoirs
Cooking
Food and Dining
Accomplishments (1)
Author – Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen (professional)
2011-10-11
For Donia Bijan’s family, food has been the language they use to tell their stories and to communicate their love. Now, through the prism of food, award-winning chef Donia Bijan unwinds her own story, finding that at the heart of it all is her mother, whose love and support enabled Bijan to realize her dreams. An exhilarating, heartfelt memoir, Maman’s Homesick Pie evokes a vibrant kaleidoscope of cultures and cuisines, and is also a reminder of the women who encourage us to shine.
Links (10)
- Personal Website
- Blog
- The Insatiable Reader: Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan
- Donia Bijan: Chef turns writer with publication of Maman’s Homesick Pie
- Chef Donia Bijan remembers her mother’s kitchen, with longing
- Lesa's Book Critiques: Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan
- Donia Bijan's recipes open window to family legacy
- Ringing In Norouz, A Time For Family And Good Eats
- Donia Bijan Charms Us
- Melody & Words: “Maman’s Homesick Pie” by Donia Bijan
Event Appearances (12)
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Schuler Books & Music Author Series Lansing, Michigan
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Menlo Park Council Reading Series Menlo Park, California
2012-05-06
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Redwood City Library Author Series Redwood City, California
2012-03-22
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Third Annual Palo Alto AAUW Authors’ Luncheon Mountain View, California
2012-04-07
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Stanford Women's Group Speaker Series Palo Alto, California
2012-04-12
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
San Mateo Library Author Series San Mateo, California
2012-05-20
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Watermark Books & Cafe Author Series Wichita, Kansas
2011-10-21
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Bookshop Santa Cruz Author Series Santa Cruz, California
2011-10-24
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
An Evening with Donia Bijan at Peninsula Parlour Palo Alto, California
2012-02-07
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Book Lovers Author Hour at Lake Villa District Library Lake Villa, Illinois
2011-10-20
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
The Book Stall Author Series Winnetka, Illinois
2011-10-17
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
Highland Park Library Reading Series Highland Park, Illinois
2011-10-18
Sample Talks (1)
Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen
In the Bijan family, food is the language used to tell stories. Donia Bijan’s story starts during the Iranian Revolution of the 1970s, when her family was forced to flee their home in Tehran. Cut off from everything and everyone they’d ever known, they began building a new life in the San Francisco Bay Area. The book is a loving memoir of her mother, but also the story of her own career growth from the Cordon Bleu in Paris through culinary work in the United States and in France.
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