But something about this dish was extraordinary-the combination of firm-fleshed tomato with crunchy cornmeal coating, the slight tartness of the unripe fruit balancing the oiliness of the exterior. Now, I know that most things that taste good taste even better when battered and deep-fried. The whole meal was delicious, as I recall, though the only dish I can remember clearly was the fried green tomatoes. They took us to a neighborhood hole-in-the-wall that served simple Southern fare. I was not a fan of the movie (two of the main characters are named Idgie and Ninny-need I say more?), and I didn't give much thought to the ostensibly Southern dish (more about that later) that one of the characters craves until a friend and I visited my aunt and uncle in New Orleans in the late 1990s. Based on a novel by Fannie Flagg called Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, it starred Mary Louise Parker, Mary Stuart Masterson, Kathy Bates and Jessica Tandy in a feel-good story of female friendship and empowerment set in Alabama. The first time I, like a lot of Americans, heard of fried green tomatoes was when a movie by that name came out in 1991.
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