VOA标准英语2011--Persian Recipes Recall Lost Way of Life

Persian Recipes Recall Lost Way of Life

 

Donia Bijan is an Iranian-American chef who fled Iran with her family during the 1979 revolution. After settling in the United States, Bijan's mother experimented with American cooking but always incorporated familiar Persian flavors, recreating a sense of home for her family. She passed those recipes to her daughter.

Bijan spent her first 16 years in Iran.

“My parents had a hospital in Tehran," she recalls. "I grew up in the top floor of the hospital. It had a beautiful garden. We even had planted vegetables, and I watched my parents run this hospital like you run a large family.”

Her mother ran the kitchen, and that’s where Donia took her first cooking lesson.

“My mother planned the menus for the patients," she says. "I was always welcome in the kitchen."

When the family had to leave Iran, they headed to San Francisco.

“And again, I watched her in the kitchen in America transform and try to learn and tune¹ in to the flavors of her new country through their food and by cooking. ”

A festive2 Iranian food table is rich in color and flavor.

Food helped Bijan’s mother connect with neighbors. But her Persian recipes on the family dinner table helped heal their homesick hearts as well. Food became an expression of belonging and later, for Bijan, a career.

With her mother’s encouragement, Bijan pursued her dreams. After studying at Le Cordon³ Bleu in Paris, she returned to San Francisco and started her own French restaurant. But a few years ago, she began to rediscover Persian cuisine⁴.

“When my mother died in 2004, I found these recipes and I very much felt that she had left those for me to find and that they carried her story," she says. "But it took me over a year to really understand what to do with it.”

Bijan decided⁵ to compile the recipes in a cookbook. She calls it a “food memoir⁶.”

Chef Donia Bijan's book, "Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in An American Kitchen," contains 30 recipes.

“I realized that recipes are so dull, if they are just instructions. And you can convey so much with a recipe if it is tied in with a story."

Bijan's book, "Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in An American Kitchen," contains 30 recipes. They include Saffron Yogurt Rice with Chicken and Eggplant, Braised Chicken with Persian Plums, and Orange Cardamom cookies. All are delivered with stories.

“When I was talking about spending our summers by the Caspian Sea, it was natural for me to include fava bean omelet because I remember eating it by the seaside with all my relatives," Bijan says.

The book includes some of her own recipes, too.

“When I talk about the ratatouille that I made in Paris," she says, "it was also a natural transition from describing how nervous I was that my father was going to come and visit me in Paris, and I wanted to show off really what I had learned, and I bungled⁷ the whole thing.”

In "Maman’s Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in An American Kitchen," chef Donia Bijan shares not only recipes, but also the story behind them.

Bijan is a regular customer of the date farmer who comes weekly to the farmers’ market in San Francisco. She uses his dates to make Cinnamon Date Bars.

“I remember that there was a similar cookie that my mother would buy for me," she says. "She was a member of parliament and the district was in the center of Iran where they specialize in these date cookies. She would go away to visit her district and I would miss her so much. And she would come back, slowly take this box out of her purse and hand it to me. Everything was forgiven in that moment. Her absence was forgiven.”

Bijan, who hopes readers will try some of the recipes, says Persian dishes are not as difficult to make as they might seem. All it takes is patience and practice.

1 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

2 festive   

adj.欢宴的，节日的

参考例句：

• It was Christmas and everyone was in festive mood.当时是圣诞节，每个人都沉浸在节日的欢乐中。
• We all wore festive costumes to the ball.我们都穿着节日的盛装前去参加舞会。

3 cordon   

n.警戒线，哨兵线

参考例句：

• Police officers threw a cordon around his car to protect him.警察在他汽车周围设置了防卫圈以保护他。
• There is a tight security cordon around the area.这一地区周围设有严密的安全警戒圈。

4 cuisine   

n.烹调，烹饪法

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• This restaurant is renowned for its cuisine.这家餐馆以其精美的饭菜而闻名。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

7 bungled   

v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的过去式和过去分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成

参考例句：

• They bungled the job. 他们把活儿搞糟了。
• John bungled the job. 约翰把事情搞糟了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》