Fried green tomatoes are one of the simpler southern delicacies to make. At their most basic level, the recipe calls for green, unripe tomatoes, not varieties that are naturally green when ripe. These green tomatoes are often tart, firm, and acidic. They are battered with flour or cornmeal and then fried until crispy and golden brown.
Fried green tomatoes are typically associated with the U.S. South. However, they are not a southern dish. The earliest fried green tomato recipe dates back to 1877 and was found in a Chicago newspaper. The dish first became popular in regions with much colder winters than the Southeast, like the Midwest and Northeast. Farmers in those colder regions would harvest their unripe crops to save them from frost, so many people believe that fried green tomatoes are a dish that was invented to avoid food waste.
An 1899 recipe for fried green tomatoes from The Inter Ocean newspaper in Chicago, Illinois.
Courtesy of The Inter Ocean.
A 1919 recipe for fried green tomatoes found in The International Jewish Cookbook.
Courtesy of Michigan State University Libraries.
A 1922 recipe for fried green tomatoes from The Mississippi Cook Book by Mary Elizabeth Warren.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, recipes began appearing in more cookbooks, magazines, and newspapers, including Jewish cookbooks. For Jewish families, fried green tomatoes could be prepared kosher, and ingredients like flour and cornmeal traditionally used for breading can be substituted for matzo meal.
How did fried green tomatoes become associated with the South if they originated elsewhere in the United States? Southerners ate fried green tomatoes, and the dish gained even more popularity and association with the South after the film Fried Green Tomatoes, based on the 1987 novel by Fannie Flagg, was released in 1991. The film is set in the 1980s but features stories about two women in the 1920s and 30s who own and operate the Whistle Stop Café, where they make and sell fried green tomatoes, among other dishes.
The film is based on the 1987 book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg. Both the book and the movie are set in fictional towns in Alabama.
Courtesy of Random House.
The film centers around Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates), befriends an older woman named Ninny Threadgoode (Jessica Tandy). The two bond over stories about Ninny’s sister-in-law Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson), and Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker) who ran a cafe.
Courtesy of Universal Pictures.
The film had a small budget of $11 million but was a box office hit that grossed $119.4 million. Its success helped southernize fried green tomatoes, a dish not native to the South. The film was shot in Juliette, Georgia, in a building that dates back to 1927 and was used as the fictional Whistle Stop Cafe. After filming at the building, the owner decided to turn the building into the actual Whistle Stop Café.
An undated photo of the Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama near Birmingham, which was Fannie Flagg’s inspiration for the Whistle Stop Café.
Courtesy of Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.
An undated photo of the Whistle Stop Cafe in Juliette, Georgia. Both the book and the film were set in a fictional Alabama town called Whistle Stop. After filming, this set became a real restaurant.
Courtesy of the Whistle Stop Cafe.
Today, diners can find fresh fried green tomatoes at various restaurants across the South. The Whistle Stop Café in Juliette, Georgia, serves them as an appetizer, a salad, and a sandwich topping. The Irondale Café in Irondale, Alabama, which was the inspiration for the cafe in Flagg’s novel, has continued to serve fried green tomatoes for over 90 years.
Fried green tomatoes are typically served with remoulade sauce. They can be eaten for breakfast; some people enjoy a nice fried green tomato version of Eggs Benedict. Some people dress fried green tomatoes up with goat cheese (or other soft cheeses) and bacon jam as an appetizer. For lunch, there’s the lovely fried green tomato BLT. Fried green tomatoes can be enjoyed as a nice side with any meal; they pair exceptionally well with a crab cake dinner. No matter how and when they are eaten, fried tomatoes are a delicious treat!
A plate of freshly fried green tomatoes.
Courtesy of Belinda Miller and Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 2.0.
