Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a 1987 novel by American author and actress Fanny Flagg, who also wrote an award-winning screen adaption of the book. The narrative contains two interconnected stories that unfold several decades apart.

The frame narrative, which takes place in Birmingham, Alabama between December 1985 and December 1986, depicts the developing friendship between a middle-aged housewife named Evelyn Couch and an elderly widow named Ninny Threadgoode. As the story opens, Evelyn is suffering from what she will later recognize as depression and anxiety. Although her life superficially resembles the American ideal, Evelyn is deeply unhappy with how it has turned out. She is traumatized by her mother’s death from cancer, estranged from her husband Ed, and unable to relate to the changes that have taken place in American society. She says, “I just feel stuck…stuck right in the middle. Women’s lib came too late for me…I was already married with two children when I found out that I didn’t have to get married […] And now it’s too late to change…I feel like life has just passed me by” (67).

Evelyn’s life begins to change when she meets Ninny Threadgoode while visiting her mother-in-law at a nursing home. Mrs. Threadgoode is talkative and opinionated, speaking frankly about her own experiences of sex, marriage, and children while also boosting Evelyn’s self-esteem. Evelyn gains more confidence, although years of bottling up her feelings sometimes culminates in angry outbursts; for instance, when a teenage girl pulls into a parking space Evelyn has been waiting for, Evelyn crashes her car repeatedly into the girl’s vehicle.

Evelyn later has a transformative experience when she visits a black church and feels real joy for the first time. She lets go of her anger and sadness and embarks on a new life, becoming a successful distributor of Mary Kay cosmetics and attending a weight loss program in California. After two months at the program, Evelyn receives a letter explaining that Mrs. Threadgoode has died. Heartbroken, Evelyn returns to the nursing home, where she receives a box of mementoes and recipes Mrs. Threadgoode left for her. Evelyn comes to terms with the loss of Mrs. Threadgoode and feels gratitude for the new life her friend encouraged her to pursue. A year later, she visits Mrs. Threadgoode’s grave, driving the pink, Mary Kay Cadillac, to thank her.

The novel’s second narrative presents a series of flashbacks, prompted by Evelyn and Mrs. Threadgoode’s conversations, in which Mrs. Threadgoode reminisces about her hometown of Whistle Stop, Alabama, a railroad town roughly ten miles outside of Birmingham. The main characters of this story, Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, are co-owners of the Depression-Era Whistle Stop Cafe.

Idgie, the youngest child of Ninny Threadgoode’s adoptive parents, is free spirited, rebellious, and tomboyish from a young age. When Idgie is 12 or 13, her beloved older brother, Buddy, dies suddenly in a railway accident, casting a shadow over her usual good humor and causing her to spend more time alone in the woods. Idgie doesn’t recover from her grief until a few years later when she falls in love with Ruth Jamison, a young Sunday school teacher from Georgia. Although Ruth returns Idgie’s feelings, she feels obligated to move back to her hometown and marry her fiancé, Frank Bennett. A few years later, Idgie learns that Frank is abusing Ruth and helps her escape to Whistle Stop. There, Idgie opens a cafe to support Ruth and her unborn child.

From 1929 onward, Idgie and Ruth run the Whistle Stop Cafe, which functions as the town’s major social nexus and serves those that other establishments won’t— out-of-work drifters and the black population of neighboring Troutville. The two women face many challenges over the years. In 1930, Frank travels to Whistle Stop to forcefully retrieve Ruth, and then suddenly disappears. The ensuing police investigation casts suspicion on Idgie, and, when Frank’s car is found in 1955, Idgie stands trial for his murder. The community bands together and provides her with an alibi, and the court finds her innocent.

In 1936, Ruth’s son, Buddy Jr, is in a train accident and loses his arm, giving rise to his nickname: “Stump.” Ruth dies of cancer 11 years later. Idgie raises Stump, and he grows up to marry a local girl and establish a family of his own. Idgie has to close the café in the mid-1950s as the railways fade in importance, but she’s still thriving in the late 1980s, running a roadside stand with her brother Julian.

Flagg intersperses the two main storylines of the novel with episodes involving several other residents of Whistle Stop—most notably, the black family that cooks for the cafe. The grandmother, Sipsey Peavey, served as a nanny for the Threadgoode children and eventually adopts a child of her own: “Big George” Pullman Peavey goes on to run the barbecue at the Whistle Stop Cafe and has four children with his wife, Onzell. The fates of George’s eldest boys, Jasper and Artis, feature particularly prominently in the novel. Although twins, the two look and act nothing alike: Jasper is fair-skinned, works hard at his job as a railway porter, and eventually marries into the black middle-class, whereas Artis is dark-skinned and leads a life of womanizing, heavy spending, and occasional violence. The narrative also eventually reveals that Sipsey, not Idgie, killed Frank.

Through excerpts from newspapers, including Whistle Stop’s Weems Weekly, Flagg offers glimpses into the lives of even more minor characters—for instance, the newspaper reports on Essie Rue Threadgoode, whose skills playing the organ for church eventually translate into a career playing the piano for radio ads and movies. The novel closes with several recipes from the Whistle Stop Cafe, accompanied by advice and notes on different characters’ preferences. For example, Mrs. Threadgoode says of the pork chops and gravy that “Big George could eat eight at a time” (400).