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Fried Green Tomatoes

© Virginia Marin

"Idgie opened the place at daybreak and didn't close the place until, as she said, 'The last dog was hung'..."

The movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, released in 1992 is based on Fannie Flag's 1987 best seller, Fried Green Tomatoes At The Whistle Stop Cafe. Through the Whistle Stop, one is transported into the rural deep South where the art of family storytelling reflects on days past--the Great Depression of the Thirties and the war years which followed. It is a sad, tear-jerking, home town, fit-for-Social Security tale which should be shown at both upcoming Democratic and Republican Presidential Conventions for education, entertainment and social, as well as, governmental enlightenment.

Fried Green Tomatoes actually depicts a time, though not delt with, when life centered around the evening meal, supper, where family and friends gathered for comaraderie and sharing of ghost tales, stories of the Blue and Gray and swamp legends. Supper was a haven that blotted out the hardships of life--and there were many during these lean years: bread lines, soup kitchens, loss of homes, farms and loved ones. The success of this movie depended on the strength and entertainment of family stories told by the device of flashbacks.

The Great Depression began in late 1929 and lasted roughly ten years. I was born in 1932. Life, in many cases, was not as hard in smaller Southern towns as it was in larger cities of the North. Those with small family farms or those who had access to these farms kept their families fed. Victory-Gardens sustained many a family, as did other Whistle Stops.

Toward the end of the Depression, I vividly remember the horse-drawn farm wagon stopping on my grandmother's street. When he reached her house, she went to his wagon and made her choices for the next three days. Among her purchases were green tomatoes selling for five cents a pound.

She used them for pickles, canning and frying. Fried green tomatoes. Yes, there really are fried green tomatoes. Now, no one could make fried green tomatoes like my grandmother because she had a special black, fat-seasoned iron frying pan. It was so heavy, only she could lift it. I always thought it was magical because it was reserved for certain foods, like fried chicken, bacon, sausage, stewed corn, fried okra, apple fritters and fried green tomatoes.

Grandmother's Fried Green Tomatoes

4-8 large totally green shiny tomatoes
1-2 large farm-fresh (brown) eggs
1 cup flour + a little bit in a plate

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