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50 free Fried Green Tomatoes trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Fried Green Tomatoes is one of those films people can quote start to finish, from Evelyn's parking-lot revenge to the secret in the barbecue sauce. Jon Avnet's 1991 adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel turned an $11 million budget into $119 million, earned Jessica Tandy an Oscar nomination and put the tiny town of Juliette, Georgia, on the tourist map. This quiz covers the film and the book together: the cast, the plot of Whistle Stop past and present, the trial, the Bee Charmer, the soundtrack, the box office and awards, plus the novel's Weems Weekly narration, the real Irondale Cafe that inspired the story, and Flagg's 2020 sequel. Easy questions cover the stars and the story; the hard ones dig into filming locations, chart positions and DVD trivia. Every answer has been checked against documented sources and the source is shown after each question.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Fried Green Tomatoes novel was published four years before the film. In what year?
1987
Director Jon Avnet read it the same year, after producer Lisa Lindstrom insisted he read the whole book rather than a synopsis.
Q 02What did Fannie Flagg include at the end of the novel?
The café's recipes
The signature fried green tomatoes recipe is among them.
Q 03Before she was a novelist, Fannie Flagg was best known as a regular panelist on which 1970s TV show?
Match Game
She usually sat in the lower-right seat next to Richard Dawson.
Q 04Fannie Flagg was born under what name, already registered by another actress?
Patricia Neal
She had an hour to pick a stage name; her grandfather suggested 'Fannie' because vaudeville comediennes used it.
Q 05The fictional Whistle Stop Cafe was loosely based on a real cafe in which Alabama suburb?
Irondale
Flagg's aunt Bess Fortenberry bought the real café in 1932 and ran it with two friends for four decades.
Q 06How many weeks did the novel spend on The New York Times Best Seller List?
36
Harper Lee praised it in the publisher's reader's guide, saying Huckleberry Finn would have tried to marry Idgie.
Q 07Which fellow Southern novelist praised the book, calling Idgie Threadgoode 'a true original'?
Harper Lee
The To Kill a Mockingbird author is a fellow Alabamian.
Q 08Who directed the 1991 film?
Jon Avnet
It was his feature directing debut; he first read the novel in 1987 after a producer insisted he read the whole book.
Q 09Which company did Avnet first pitch the film to, run by TV producer Norman Lear?
Act III Communications
They gave him a small budget to hire a screenwriter, Carol Sobieski, who had written Annie.
Q 10Who plays Evelyn Couch, the timid 1980s housewife?
Kathy Bates
Avnet had worked with her and Chris O'Donnell on Men Don't Leave the year before.
Q 11Which actress plays Ninny Threadgoode, the storyteller in the nursing home?
Jessica Tandy
Avnet wrote the script with her in mind, and she earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
Q 12Who plays the tomboy Idgie Threadgoode?
Mary Stuart Masterson
Her co-star Mary-Louise Parker was casting director David Rubin's first choice for Ruth.
Q 13Which future Batman & Robin star plays Idgie's older brother Buddy?
Chris O'Donnell
Buddy is killed by a train early in the story, leaving Idgie socially withdrawn.
Q 21Which nearly deserted Georgia town was chosen as the filming location for Whistle Stop?
Juliette
After the film, locals opened a real Whistle Stop Café there, recreated to mirror the set.
Q 22Before it became the film's café, the chosen building in the location town had been what?
An antique and hardware store
Production designer Barbara Ling found the town while scouting locations.
Q 23How much did the film gross worldwide against its $11m budget?
$119.4 million
It opened in just five theatres and spent ten weeks in the domestic top ten after going wide.
Q 14Which veteran actress plays Sipsey, the family cook?
Cicely Tyson
Sipsey is the one who finally deals with Frank Bennett, with a cast-iron skillet.
Q 15How does Buddy Threadgoode die?
Hit by a train
When the trains stop running years later, the café closes and Whistle Stop empties out.
Q 16Ruth leaves Whistle Stop to marry the abusive Frank Bennett in which Georgia town?
Valdosta
Idgie, her brother Julian and Big George later drive there to bring Ruth home.
Q 17Who gives Idgie the money to open the café?
Papa Threadgoode
The café employs Sipsey and her son Big George, whose barbecue draws customers from miles around.
Q 18What happens to Frank Bennett's body after Sipsey kills him?
Big George barbecues it and serves it to the detective
Sheriff Curtis Smoot, who hunted for Frank for years, ends up eating the evidence.
Q 19Who gives false alibi testimony at the murder trial that clears Idgie and Big George?
Reverend Scroggins
The judge rules Frank's probable death accidental, noting his drinking and the missing body.
Q 20What was Ruth's nickname for Idgie, which Ninny mentions to reveal Idgie is still alive?
The Bee Charmer
The name comes from Idgie fearlessly pulling honey from a wild hive.
Q 24On what date did the film open in a limited US release?
27 December 1991
It went wide four weeks later, on 24 January 1992, in 673 theatres.
Q 25The film received two Academy Award nominations. Which categories?
Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay
Jessica Tandy was nominated for Ninny, and Flagg and Sobieski for the script.
Q 26Which organisation gave the film a 1992 award for best feature film with lesbian content?
GLAAD
Unlike the novel, the film leaves the romance between Idgie and Ruth ambiguous.
Q 27On the DVD commentary, how does Avnet describe the food fight between Idgie and Ruth?
A love scene
It is his answer to the criticism that the film hid the women's romance.
Q 28Who composed the film's original score?
Thomas Newman
He won a BMI Motion Picture Composer Award for it in 1993.
Q 29Which Bob Dylan song was recorded by Grayson Hugh as the film's end-title song?
I'll Remember You
Soundtrack supervisor Arthur Baker co-arranged it with Hugh.
Q 30Which singer performs the 1933 blues number 'Barbecue Bess' on the soundtrack?
Patti LaBelle
Paul Young's cover of 'What Becomes of the Brokenhearted' from the same album reached No. 22 on the Hot 100.