What I’ve Read: Maman’s Homesick Pie by Donia Bijan
If you’ve ever read a food memoir or food travelogue or any book by Anthony Bourdain, you may have come to expect certain things from the book. I know I do. I’ve read so many of these types of books that even the outstanding ones seem to blend into all the rest, what with their similar discussions of homemade cheeses or offal or France or great restaurants. It’s hard to write about food in an original way, and even those who do (Bourdain) are now being mimicked by hundreds of others eager for a book deal.
When I saw that the promotional description for Maman’s Homesick Pie called it “heartfelt,” I thought I knew exactly what kind of food book this was going to be. I had it pigeon-holed somewhere between Ruth Reichl and Madhur Jaffrey.
To my delight, I was completely wrong. I should note that once I started this book, I put it down once—to make sugar cookies because it was making me hungry—and then picked it back up and didn’t stop until I finished in the wee hours of the morning. It WAS heartfelt. It was moving. It was beautifully written. It was hunger-inducing. It was so many wonderful things and I wished it had kept going.
Maman’s Heartsick Pie is comprised of chef Donia Bijan’s personal memoirs of growing up in Iran, moving to the United States, being transported to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu and then opening her own restaurant. Tying all of this narrative together are Bijan’s memories of her mother’s cooking and of the tastes and smalls of her native Persian food. (There are 30 recipes sprinkled throughout the book, by the way.)
It’s not a long book or an exhausting read. Despite the sometimes heavy subject matter, it always feels light, thanks to Bijan’s fantastic writing. By reading my short synopsis above, you may be thinking the same thing I did: that you’ve read this kind of thing before. Seen it, read it. But, if you’re like anything like me (you love to eat, love to read about food) and have a strong sense of nostalgic to childhood tastes and recipes and food, there is no reason this book should not resonate with you as well. I started reading expecting one thing, and emerged at the other side without a negative thing to say. It stole my heart (and stomach) so thoroughly, I’m considering a re-read…and also considering making an accompanying dinner from the recipes inside.
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Book provided for review.
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