For over three decades, fans of Fried Green Tomatoes have quoted Evelyn Couch’s triumphant shout—“Towanda!”—as a rallying cry for female empowerment.
Now director Jon Avnet has revealed that the scene we know was never the whole story.
The Lost Sequence
In a live Q&A streamed to a global audience, Avnet described a dreamlike café encounter that once followed Evelyn’s grocery-store car-smash. “Evelyn wanders into the Whistle Stop Café at night and meets spectral versions of Idgie and Ruth,” Avnet said. “Idgie hands her a jar of luminous honey and whispers, ‘Towanda isn’t just strength. It’s the sweetness of freedom.’”
Studio executives in 1991 feared the surreal imagery would confuse audiences and demanded the sequence be cut. “They wanted a straight drama,” Avnet explained. “But that scene tied Evelyn’s awakening directly to Idgie’s spirit. I still regret losing it.”
Fan Uproar
Within hours of the livestream, hashtags like #ReleaseTheTowandaCut trended on social media. Petition drives calling for a Director’s Cut surged past 50,000 signatures in a single weekend.
Film scholar Dana Leigh believes the missing footage could reshape the film’s cultural footprint. “It elevates Towanda from a catchphrase to a philosophy,” she notes. “It also strengthens the queer subtext by placing Idgie and Ruth as guiding spirits for Evelyn’s liberation.”
What Happens Next
Avnet hinted that original negatives of the deleted material still exist in Universal’s vaults. “The honey jar is waiting,” he teased, sending fans into a frenzy of speculation about a possible anniversary release.
