Hallelujah! the Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes

Overview

Throughout Maya Angelou's life, from her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, to her world travels as a bestselling writer, good food has played a central role. Preparing and enjoying homemade meals provides a sense of purpose and calm, accomplishment and connection. Now in Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, Angelou shares memories pithy and poignant-and the recipes that helped to make them both indelible and irreplaceable.

Angelou tells us about the time she was expelled from school for being afraid to speak-and her mother baked a delicious maple cake to brighten her spirits. She gives us her recipe for short ribs along with a story about a job she had as a cook at a Creole restaurant (never mind that she didn't know how to cook and had no idea what Creole food might entail). There was the time in London when she attended a wretched dinner party full of wretched people; but all wasn't lost-she did experience her initial taste of a savory onion tart. She recounts her very first night in her new home in Sonoma, California, when she invited M. F. K. Fisher over for cassoulet, and the evening Deca Mitford roasted a chicken when she was beyond tipsy-and created Chicken Drunkard Style. And then there was the hearty brunch Angelou made for a homesick Southerner, a meal that earned her both a job offer and a prophetic compliment: "If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous."

Maya Angelou is renowned in her wide and generous circle of friends as a marvelous chef. Her kitchen is a social center. From fried meat pies, chicken livers, and beef Wellington to caramel cake, bread pudding, and chocolate ?clairs, the one hundred-plus recipes included here are all tried and true, and come from Angelou's heart and her home. Hallelujah! The Welcome Table is a stunning collaboration between the two things Angelou loves best: writing and cooking.

Editorial Reviews

Readers familiar with Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will find what may be the secret ingredient of her success in this collection of tear- and laughter-provoking vignettes with 73 savory recipes. Here's Angelou's grandmother's Chicken and Dumplings, Crackling Corn Bread and Caramel Cake. Big brother Bailey makes a mean batch of Smothered Pork Chops and knows how to stretch them for a week's worth of meals. Mother, who "cooked wonderful meals and was very poignant about how to present them," can make a Roasted Capon play second fiddle to Red Rice. As the wider world beckons, Angelou dines. Sometimes she's the worker; having passed herself off as an experienced Creole cook, she becomes one with her Braised Short Ribs. Other times, she's the hostess serving what M.F.K. Fisher pronounces "the first honest cassoulet I have eaten in years." A batch of spoon bread nets Angelou a job and compliment: "If you can write half as good as you can cook, you are going to be famous." She does, and the food world widens (tamales, pat?, minestrone, chachouka), and the fellow diners often have famous names (Oprah, Jessica Mitford, Rosa Guy). The food remains delectable and comfortable, and Angelou's directions are minimal but clear enough for experienced cooks. Color photos not seen by PW.
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.

Author Information

Bio of Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou 1928 - Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928 in Saint Louis, Missouri. She attended public school in Stamps, Arkansas and San Francisco, California. She is perhaps best known for her semi-autobiographical work "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", and for the tireless effort she puts forth to make the world aware. In her youth, Angelou traveled the world, eventually marrying a South African freedom fighter and settling in Cairo, where she edited The Arab Observer, the only English language weekly newspaper in the Middle East. They later moved to Ghana where she was Features Editor of The African Review and taught at the University of Ghana. In the 60's, Dr, Martin Luther King requested that Angelou return to the US to become the northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was later appointed to the Bicentennial Commission by President Ford and to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year by President Carter. "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die" was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1971. Ten years later, in 1981, Angelou was appointed to the lifetime position of Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. Angelou became only the second poet in United States history to write and recite an original poem at a Presidential Inauguration; in 1993 she read "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Clinton's Inauguration Ceremony. In 1995, Angelou received an amazing amount of honors. Her semi-autobiographical tale, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", which was originally published in 1970, became the longest running nonfiction best seller by an African American on the New York Times Bestsellers List. That same year, "A Brave and Startling Truth" was recited at the 50th Anniversary celebration of the United Nations, and "From a Black Woman to a Black Man" was recited at the Million Man March in Washington D. C.. Angelou is best known, however, for the five books of her autobiography, beginning with "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (1970), which she adapted for television, through "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes" (1986). Angelou's collection of essays entitled "Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now" was published in 1993. She has assumed the roles of poet, educator, historian, author, actress, playwright, civil rights activist, producer and director. Angelou had also appeared in the movie "Roots" and was nominated for Best Supporting Actress in 1977 for her role in the movie. She also had a role in the movie, "How to Make an American Quilt" and wrote and produced "Afro-Americans in the Arts", a PBS special for which she received a Golden Eagle Award. She is the author of 11 best selling books.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Random House Trade Paperbacks

Filesize

5.30 MB

Number of Pages

240

eBook ISBN

9780307529732