A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes - Hallelujah! The Welcome Table

Every experience I've ever had with Ms. Angelou's work has proven to be captivating, entertaining and above all heart-warming. This book follows her pattern of taking her fascinating real life, and explaining it as though we were sitting chatting over coffee. Although we've never met in person, I feel as though through her stories, we've lived a lifetime of memories together.

Again, I couldn't put this book down until I'd read it from cover to cover. The recipies not only are easy to follow, but the stories that accompany them give you a little more insight into the multi-faceted life of a true American icon.

I've attempted a few of the recipes with overwhelming success, and highly recommend this book for someone who enjoys the history of regional cuisine. From Stamps, Arkansas to New York City, the food passes all geographic obstacles with ease.

I'm so happy to add this to my collection.

Dr. Maya Angelou is an inspiration. Her words are the eloquent voice of our people and her wisdom touches all nations.

This cookbook is a departure in that instead of her usual food for the soul, here she cooks up soul food to eat! And behind each recipe, she gives us a wonderful story about her life, travels and experiences, of which there are so many.

My only problem with the book is that too many of the recipes were "slave" recipes- with fatty pork and greasy chicken. We as a people have to clean up what we are eating if we are to purify ouselves. More recipes from the motherland would have been great, but this is Dr. Angelou's book and I can't tell her what to write.

The recipes I tried were all delicious, by the way.

I was disappointed with this book. Since it said Hallelujah on the cover I though it was raw food recipes. I will be giving it away for a gift when I need something for a gift the next time.
This book should of never been put with the Hallelujah diet book.

I consider myself a serious cook and Maya's cookbook has been an amazing addition to my cookbook shelf. Yes, her cookbook does not follow a typical cookbook format (I'm honestly open to a bit of creative reworking of a tired and rather boring standard) but each and every page is a true treasure.

Reading this book of recipes and relating stories made me think of my grandmother. She was a great storyteller and a great cook. For me, "Hallelujah! The Welcome Table" had that feeling of home and nostalgia plus it had the added flavor of entertainment (My favorite: "Good Banana, Bad Timing"). I'm not a regular reader of non-fiction nor am I a cook, but when this book came out a while back, I knew I had to get it for the sake of having it on my bookshelf. While I'll probably never try any of the recipes, many years after Maya has made her home in Heaven, I'll have this wonderful piece of history to call my own. Thanks Mother Maya.

My daughter reproduced the same Caramel Cake that Maya made as a guest on Martha Stewart's show, for my birthday last fall...oh my gosh, it was so good!

So good that I gave her Hallelujah! The Welcome Table, for Christmas.

It is a warm and wonderful book, chock full of memories and yummy recipes...including the Caramel Cake.

I was excited to learn that Dr. Angelou had written a cookbook and promptly purchased it. This is a very well written cookbook with stories of her life interspersed between recipes. The photographs are charming. However, the recipes themselves are not up to par. They are in fact, quite awful. For instance, she advises frying chicken in unseasoned flour. She waxes poetic about her grandmother's famed caramel cake, but then provides a recipe for a three layer cake made with only one stick of butter, which resulted in a cake with the texture of cornbread. Her red rice is a travesty against mankind. If this book is truly representative of what Dr. Angelou does in the kitchen, then the sad truth is that she simply cannot cook and has no business writing a cookbook.

This is a warmly written, beautiful book with very tempting recipes (you almost drool on the pages) -- which are either unique, or have incredibly special touches. Magnificent (like everything the author does). My only quibble (and the reason I didn't give it five stars) is that the descriptions of the recipes and what makes them special appear in a chapter preceding the recipes, rather than above each recipe -- and the recipes are organized by family event, rather than type. That makes it awfully difficult to find anything. But you'll still want the book ... It is glorious, and I can't wait to start trying the tempting recipes.

I collect cookbooks, and this was one I just happened upon, but it has become one of my favorites, my mother is a wonderful cook, and I have always wanted to learn to make her bread pudding, Maya's bread pudding is just like hers and it is wonderful, my husband and kids couldn't get enough of it. Every recipe I have tried from this book has been a hit with my family, and the great part is they are so easy to make.

I think the book is great. The recipes are simple and easy to follow. Each dish that I have prepared turned out good. I really love the smothered chicken recipe, the mushrooms adds a different taste. However, I would like to know the effects of soaking the chicken parts in lemon juice and water!

I love this book! Great stories, fabulous, simple recipes like they had years ago. Delicious. The book makes you feel at home with Maya and I wish I knew her. She sounds delightful. Oprah was right on with this book and her cooking. I will try all of the recipes

This book has it all: succulent pictures, good soul food recipes, but most of all interesting and funny stories. A must-read, not only for women, but for everybody with a passion for food and love of good heart-felt writing.

She's a wonderful writer and the stories are really nice but the pictures altho beautiful didn't match recipes the potatoe salad is a perfect example the picture is very yellow ...eggs yolks alone will not make it that yellow, also the red rice ball ...I personally felt there was too much empty space in the book ...and too much sugar in the southern veggies...I really did enjoy reading the complete book (which I rarely read a complete cook book) it was a lovely book but she seem to have writer block ..I could feel it ...I wish her much love

The stories that accompany the recipes are wonderful. They are told in the way only Maya Angelou can enrapture us. The recipes were disappointing. All of the recipes I tried came out bad. Two of my co-workers (one is a culinary genius) had similar results. I'm glad I got the book at the library before wasting my money.