Maya Angelou’s Culinary Roots

Chicken cornbread pie recipe below

Poet Maya Angelou was born in 1928 in St. Louis but she spent the majority of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas where she lived in the rear of the Wm. Johnson General Merchandise Store with her grandmother and uncle. Angelou describes her grandmother as great cook and entrepreneur. For example, years earlier, her grandmother saved the capital necessary to start the store selling food to laborers in the town’s saw mill and cotton gin located at opposite ends of town. “Her crisp meat pies and cool lemonade, when joined to her miraculous ability to be in two places at the same time assured her business success,” says Angelou. “From being a mobile lunch counter, she set up a stand between the two points of fiscal interest and supplied the workers’ needs for a few years” until she had the capital to build a store in the center of Stamp’s black section of town. Like many southern towns, the railroad tracks divided the towns black and white residents with whites living “on the town’s small rise (it couldn’t be called a hill), while black lived in what had been known since slavery as ‘the Quarters.’” Her grandmother’s store served as the center of activity and good food in the town’s black community. Below is a southern meat pie recipe that can be made for traditional dinners or vegans in mind.



Chicken Cornbread Pie



2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (or vegan substitute)

1 cup cooked lima beans

1 cup cooked corn

1/2 cup cooked green peas

1/2 cup chopped and sauteed celery

1/4 cup sauteed onions

1 cup of cream of chicken soup (or vegan substitute)

season filling mix with bay leaves, thyme, garlic powder, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste

2 cups of Cornbread Mix (make a cornmeal mix from scratch for best results or go with a box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix)

2/3 cup milk (or soy milk)



Method:

Combine chicken, beans, veggies, soup, and seasoning; mix well. Pour into a greased 8-inch square baking pan. Combine cornbread mix and milk in a small bowl; stir until smooth. Pour over chicken mixture in baking dish. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with desired toppings. Serves 6