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  • 5 weeks ago
Fannie Flagg grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, where she had close family ties to the Irondale Cafe, a restaurant that’s still serving fried chicken, creamed corn, and of course fried green tomatoes. The beloved local spot was run by her aunt, Bess Fortenberry, and served as inspiration for her 1987 novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which she also adapted for the famous 1991 film. It was no accident that Fannie found success in the movie business. Both her father and grandfather worked as motion picture machine operators, which exposed Fannie to the magic of films at a young age. It also gave her just enough knowledge to bluff her way into running the spotlight at the local theater, where she eventually became both a performer and a writer. Now she’s out with her eleventh book, ‘Something to Look Forward To’, a collection of short stories featuring a lot of the quirky Southern characters she’s known for.
Transcript
00:00A lot of people don't remember, but Birmingham during the Depression was one of the hardest hit
00:05cities in the country, and there wasn't a lot to eat. Fried green tomatoes, people say, well,
00:11where did that come from? When they couldn't get meat, they would fry up these tomatoes and give
00:16it to the kids at night so they thought they were getting something. And turnip greens and sweet
00:21potatoes, black-eyed peas, all those wonderful foods that we grew up eating. And it was because
00:28they were available and cheap. They are now gourmet foods. Fried green tomatoes now is everywhere.
00:34Thanks to you, yes.
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