Maman's Homesick Pie

Part memoir, part travelogue, part cookbook, Maman's Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan, gracefully weaves the story of a Persian childhood together and European and American exile, education, and adult life into the story of the foods that define our memories. I especially loved the imagery of mid-20th century Iran, although the author fairly acknowledges that as she and her sisters were clamoring for shorter skirts and bigger tastes of the Wests, their less fortunate contemporaries were turning more and more to radical Islam. The chapters set in Paris  are equally engaging; the reminiscences of Donia's time at Le Cordon Bleu parallel Julia Child's own descriptions of learning to cook there decades earlier. (My Life in France is among the best travelogue-memoir combos I have read, and certainly one of the best for capturing the essence of post-World War II Europe, especially France.)

My only complaint is, toward the end, it feels as though the author has become impatient with her own story. Relatives and friends try repeatedly to set her up, she is dating no one, then suddenly, without any previous mention of a boyfriend, she is engaged to be married. Likewise, her time running her own restaurant is quickly covered. I personally would have preferred either the same treatment of these later years as the earlier years, or a cleaner break so that the last chapters felt as leisurely as the first. On the whole, however, this is a thoroughly enjoyable book and offers a timely look at the Iran of yesteryear.