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The Apple Doesn’t Fall

Donia Bijan is a San Francisco Bay Area chef who left Iran in 1978 when her parents’ lives were threatened by the Islamic Revolution. After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1984, Donia went to Paris to attend the Cordon Bleu before returning to San Francisco and eventually opening her own restaurant. Since closing her restaurant in 2004, Ms. Bijan has divided her days between raising her son, catering, and writing MAMAN'S HOMESICK PIE, 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. Here, she talks about a time in her childhood when her mother had to work every day, but took the time each morning to write her long, detailed letters. Her parents are pictured in the photos below. 

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