• Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

  • A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes
  • By: Maya Angelou
  • Narrated by: Maya Angelou
  • Length: 3 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (123 ratings)

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Hallelujah! The Welcome Table  By  cover art

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

By: Maya Angelou
Narrated by: Maya Angelou
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Publisher's summary

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 éclairs, 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.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2004 Maya Angelou (P)2004 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"With the same sweet, strong voice she uses in her award-winning poetry and best-selling books, Maya Angelou now turns to a favorite and long enduring passion--food...In HALLELUJAH! she kneads together wonderfully re-created recollections from throughout her life with the foods that made them memorable. We taste the crackling cornbread warm from her grandmother's oven, feel her pride as she roasts a turkey and makes cornbread stuffing for a group of scholars in an Italian villa and laugh when she recounts a tale of pot roast and Brillo pads." -Chicago Daily Herald

What listeners say about Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I love listening to Ms. Maya...

I usually "hear" Maya's voice when I read her work, but nothing beats actually listening to her. The "histories" to the recipes are great. "Light" but Pure Maya.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Cooking

This book is a series of seemingly random thoughts triggered by memories of food. Being Maya, they are amusing and wonderfully written, but I felt I was left hanging because of the lack of organization or a stronger thread running through the text. Maybe reading the book would be easier to follow or feel more coherent - since I tend to listen to audiobooks while I do something else (like driving), I need all the help I can get to follow a narration! Of course the print version would not include Maya's wonderful voice with its warmth and humor.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I love listening to her!

This is a warm, wonderful collection of short stores from Maya Angelou's life. It's like listening to my grandparents' old stories. I love it! And the recipes sound delicious!
The audio book description says: "the 100-plus recipes included here are all tried and true, and come from Angelou's heart and her home... PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio."
My PDF only had 5 recipes in it. Were there supposed to be more? I wish I had them all!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A Delicious Favorite

Maya's writing has always satisfied my soul in more ways than I can express, and this delicious dish of food and stories wins again with me. Enjoy the offerings.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The soothing sound of Maya Angelou

I could listen to Maya Angelou every day for the rest of my life. Her stories are delivered with such grace, comedy, love, and thought. I’m forever a fan of her wisdom.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A side of laughter

Maya is always delightful. Loved the insight. I didn’t realize she was such a cook. Loved the recipes! Wonderful book.
I bought the physical book as well as the audiobook. I wanted to hear it read in her voice (special) and have a copy of the recipes but it did make it more expensive than most - especially for a 3 hour read. But I enjoyed it!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Love her but not this

Ms. Angelou is my all-time favorite, but this book was a miss for me. There were a couple of funny parts, but other than that most of this could have been left for table talk between friends.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lovely!

I could listen as Ms Angelou tells stories forever. The title doesn't tell you that this is a memoir but I wasn't too disappointed there aren't more recipes.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

love

Bravo. It was a very enjoyable experience. I felt like a friend was telling a story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

excellent, will listen agsin

wonderful storyline. Beautifully told. Learnt a thing or two as well. Already shared it with a friend.

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