Donia Bijan left her native Iran in 1978 during the Islamic Revolution. She settled in California and graduated from UC Berkley and the Cordon Bleu in Paris. After presiding over many of San Francisco's acclaimed restaurants and earning awards for her French-inspired cuisine, in 1994 she opened her own celebrated bistro, L'amie Donia, in Palo Alto, and wrote her well-received memoir, Maman’s Homesick Pie. She lives in Northern California and divides her days between raising her son, teaching, and writing.