Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook [Hardcover]

Flagg, author of the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe , later made into the movie Fried Green Tomatoes , follows up both with something culinary and, logically, Southern. Her Alabama-inspired fare may not be healthy, but it's genuine, including blue plate specials and plenty of gravies (chicken; giblet), stews (Brunswick; beef), pies (pecan; black bottom), and jams (muscadine). This jauntily designed cookbook also offers enough first-person splash to entertain. "When I moved to California, I found myself surrounded by health freaks," Flagg whines, and explains how the South helped her to get revenge: with biscuits, cobblers, "creatures that swim" (e.g., fried oysters, which really don't), creamed onions, and fried okra. And, three recipes for fried green tomatoes. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Caf e (Random, 1987) and of the screenplay for the popular movie inspired by the book, admits that she is no cook--but she loves to eat. And so she has collected favorite recipes from the real cafe that was her model, The Irondale Cafe in Irondale, Alabama, run by her great-aunt for more than 50 years and still going strong. All the traditional dishes are here, from grits to barbecue to black bottom pie, along with the author's irreverent, irresistible commentary on Southern cooking and culture. Quotes from Fried Green Tomatoes and period photographs further add to Flagg's atmospheric text. Recommended for most collections.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

You might remember Fannie Flagg from her career as a comedienne in the 1960s or by her regular appearances on the game show "Match Game" in the 1970s. But in the 1980s, Flagg has put herself on the respectable map as an author with the incredible popularity of her novel Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe and the movie based on it, the screenplay earning her an Academy Award. Now Flagg is really milking the success of that Hollywood hit by putting together this compilation of down-home, southern recipes from the same caf{‚}e. Although not a cook herself, she has "always loved to eat, loved to be around other people eating . . . As the only child of a mother who did not like to cook, I have eaten out almost every day of my life." What she delivers, then, is an endearing, often corny and sappy book featuring the best of southern cooking and anecdotes from patrons of the cafe. Flagg avoids anything trendy (or healthy) but does offer some wonderful, easy recipes--like the one for chicken pot pie using frozen veggies or the one for Mississippi mud cake that must "leave your mouth coated with sugar"--as well as quick kitchen tips for the busy cook. A cute addition for American regional cookbook collections--and a likely best-seller given the movie tie-in angle. Mary Frances Wilkens

Actress and author of the the beloved novel FRIED GREEN TOMATOES AT THE WHISTLE STOP CAFE, Fannie Flagg has long collected recipes from that famed cafe on which the movie was based. Now, due to popular demand, she joyfully shares those recipes along with some wonderful (and hilarious) observations about food and life.