Yes, we really do eat fried green tomatoes.

That's right. This signature Alabama side dish is a reality, not one of those homey, sweet-sounding concoctions dreamed up by some writer to become the poster-dish for all food Southern. In fact, tomatoes — red, green and yellow — are a cornerstone of the Southern diet.

And the Southern garden, too. Truth is, there probably aren't many folks in Alabama who don't own at least one tomato plant. If you think about it, next time you're traveling in Alabama, just keep your eyes open for them. You'll see everything from acres of well-loved and well-staked tomato plants, to single plants in clay pots on the balconies of apartment buildings, to groupings of three or four plants carefully located in the few sunny spots in someone's tree-shaded suburban yard.

They're also gifts. Even if your neighbor has only one or two plants, whenever they get one more ripe tomato than they can eat, you'll find the extras on your front porch when you get home from work. Just as with all our home-cooked and home-grown delicacies, it's the innate Southern hospitality that drives us to share all that is good with each other. And down here, tomatoes are definitely good.

In terms of history, it's not really clear how tomatoes got to the United States. We do know that Thomas Jefferson grew them in the 1780s and credited one of his neighbors with the introduction. There is also a folk legend that they were introduced by African slaves who came to North America by way of the Caribbean, and some historians believe the Portuguese introduced tomatoes to the West Coast of Africa.

But regardless of how they got here, we're just glad they did because Southern cuisine simply would not be the same without them. Need a few examples? How about barbeque sauce, gumbo or stewed tomatoes? Or, what you'll see on most Southern tables is just a simple dish of sliced, homegrown tomatoes that will all be gone by the end of the meal. And then, of course, there are those fried green ones we all know, eat and love.