Black America CooksBeta

Celebrating the Soul of Southern Recipes,

Cooks, Cookbooks and Traditions

Maya Angelou, Poet, Writer, Teacher, Director,

Cookbook Author

"I have the memory of good flavor to go by…"

"Celebrate love not sentimentality or mush. Love might just be what holds the stars in the firmament." Maya Angelou

Born: April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri
Cooking Style: "Soulful, Family-Style, International

Memorable Quote: "I was reminded that ignorance is not genetic. A lack of courage allows us to remain blinded to our own history and deaf to the cries of our past..."

Special Honors:

Tony Award nomination, National Book Award nomination, Three Grammys, Presidential Medal of Arts and Presidential Medal of Freedom (announced).

Why we cherish Maya Angelou: Through her spoken and written words (including recipes)...Dr. Angelou nurtures, comforts, mentors and inspires us.

Books

Hallelujah! the Welcome Table, 2004

Great Food, All Day Long, 2010

Recipe Highlights:

Vegetable Crudités

Adapted from Great Food All Day Long

Hogshead Cheese

Adapted from Hallelujah! the Welcome Table

Weiss and Jews;

Skillet Diary

Great Women who Lunch

In the 1970s, my favorite college professor invited a small group of us to meet her good friend, Maya Angelou over lunch.

After that lunch, how could I not spend the rest of my life following my dream by uncovering and celebrating the wisdom, elegance, strength, talent and compassion of other Black cooks whose contributions have so often been underestimated, misunderstood, overlooked and ignored. I began recording interviews.

More than three decades later, both "phenomenal" women have independently encouraged me to persevere with my soul food, southern food and Black America Cooks recipe project, and I am daily reminded of the message from that transforming lunch "Never, ever, ever, ever give up on your dreams..."

Donna

2011 begins with exciting news including road trips and writing adventures. Join me on Zester.com where as a new contributor, I interviewed Dr. Angelou about her eating plan and new book.

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Scrolling Photo Credits from Page Top, including Julia Child, Marcus Samuelsson, Art Smith, Leah Chase and more…

Counter-Clockwise Beginning with Wedding:

1. Donna's parents (Muriel & Eliot Batte) w/ Mobile, Alabama wedding party, June 28, 1950. ( Eliot Battle & flower girl, Peggy Cooper Caffritz, 2009.)

2. Donna with Art Smith.

3. Donna's paternal great aunts (c.1890)

Wilson, North Carolina.

4. Donna with Julia Child, Greenbrier Hotel, 1997.

5. From private photo collection, unknown Boone County Missouri Couple/WW1.

6. Donna, Donna's Father, Eliot Battle, Sr., Chef Marcus Samuelsson.