In the beginning of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, Evelyn Couch is shown to be a timid housewife in her 40s who relies heavily on food to cope with her lack of confidence and increasing dissatisfaction with her life and self. She allows a past society to shape her opinions of herself, even going so far as to feel sick at just the thought of ever displeasing a man. However, through the motivations of Ninny Threadgoode and her stories of Ruth Jamison and Idgie Threadgoode, Evelyn regains her confidence and gains of sense of empowerment as she begins to take control of her life again. By the end of the novel, Evelyn tells her husband that Ninny Threadgoode had forced her to hold a mirror up to her face, and that she did not like