Throughout Maya Angelou's life, food has played a key role at important moments. In HALLELUJAH! THE WELCOME TABLE she narrates some of these tales and then gives us recipes for the food that helped shape her memories. There was the time she cooked a cassoulet for M.F.K. Fischer on the very day she moved into her new house in California. Or how her mother made a delicious caramel cake for her when she was expelled from school for not being able to speak. Then there's Jessica 'Decca' Mitford's 'Chicken Drunkard Style'. The recipes cover fried meat pies, Minnesota wild rice, chicken livers and many more. Maya Angelou's kitchen is a social centre; she cooks while she entertains and is renowned for what she serves.