Poppy O'Toole

Poppy O'Toole
O'Toole in May 2023
Born (1994-01-17) 17 January 1994
Bromsgrove, England
Occupations
  • Chef
  • social media personality
Years active2020–present

Poppy O'Toole (born 17 January 1994) is an English chef and social media personality. She spent several years working in restaurants before losing her job due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She subsequently turned to TikTok, where she became known as the "Potato Queen". Since 2021, she has published five cookbooks, four of which have topped The Sunday Times Bestseller List. She has also made regular appearances on Saturday Kitchen, Celeb Cooking School, Young MasterChef, and Cooking with the Stars.

Life and career

Poppy O'Toole was born in Bromsgrove[1] on 17 January 1994[2] and has a younger brother and sister;[3] all three are of Irish descent.[1] She attended South Bromsgrove High School,[4] during which time she worked in the kitchens of a local pub and a care home. After leaving school, O'Toole undertook an apprenticeship under Glynn Purnell at his Birmingham restaurant Purnell's, where she worked her way up to chef de partie before moving on to Alex Claridge's Birmingham restaurant The Wilderness.[1] She then worked as a sous chef for JPMorgan Chase and later for AllBright, a women's private members club in Mayfair.[5] She has stated that she experienced sexism from colleagues during this period including sexual assault, an owner announcing the contents of a sex dream he had enjoyed in front of her and her appreciative co-workers, and being told that she was only promoted because the head chef fancied her and that employers not wanting to pay maternity pay would preclude her from a fine dining career after 25.[6][5]

O'Toole was furloughed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and made redundant in August.[7][8] Following the former, she and her partner moved back in with her mother and O'Toole began producing TikTok content under the name "Poppy Cooks" after being shown the platform by her younger siblings;[9] her first video was published on 1 April.[10] Her content, which she began making with the intention of making her viewers' lives brighter,[9] primarily comprises recipes and posts calling out sexism.[11][12] She was subsequently dubbed the "Potato Queen" on the platform[13] and the "High Priestess of Potato" by Nigella Lawson.[9] O'Toole released the cookbook The Food You Need in September 2021.[3]

In April 2022, O'Toole began appearing regularly on Saturday Kitchen.[14] An appearance in December 2023 attracted press attention after she accidentally mispronounced the word "whim" as "quim", an archaic name for a vulva,[9][15][16] prompting apologies from the host. The word subsequently trended on social media.[17] She co-presented Celeb Cooking School with Melvin Odoom and Giorgio Locatelli in September 2022[18] and appeared as a contestant on The Weakest Link in December 2022.[19] She then co-presented a series of Young MasterChef with Kerth Gumbs in 2023[4] and then a second series the following year with television personality Big Has.[20] By the time of the second series, she had also appeared on Big Zuu's Big Eats.[21]

O'Toole released The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook in 2023;[22] similarly titled books with "Slow Cooker" and "One Pot" recipes followed in 2024 and 2025.[23][24] She then judged an episode of CBBC's Style It Out[25] and appeared as a guest chef on Jamie Oliver's Air Fryer Meals on Channel 4[26] before mentoring Linford Christie and Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu in the 2024 and 2025 series of Cooking with the Stars.[27][28] By the time of the last of these, she had judged an episode of Food Network's Last Bite Hotel[29] and been a contestant on that network's House of Knives.[30] In February 2025, she published the cookbook The Potato Book, signed an open letter denouncing sexism in kitchens following comments by Jason Atherton underestimating its prevalence, and criticised a commenter for criticising her weight.[31][6][11]

By August, four of her books had topped The Sunday Times Bestseller List.[32] O'Toole married her partner that month at Redditch registry office and then at a restaurant near Tenbury Wells in August 2025[32] and announced that she had given birth to a daughter in December 2025.[33] She judged an episode of Celebrity Masterchef in November 2025[34] and partnered with Walkers in January 2026 to help judge submissions for a competition to create new crisp flavours.[35]

Filmography

Bibliography

  • O'Toole, Poppy (2021). The Food You Need. Bloomsbury.
  • O'Toole, Poppy (2023). The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook. Bloomsbury.
  • O'Toole, Poppy (2024). The Actually Delicious Slow Cooker Coobook. Bloomsbury.
  • O'Toole, Poppy (2025). The Potato Book. Bloomsbury.
  • O'Toole, Poppy (2025). The Actually Delicious One Pot Cookbook. Bloomsbury.

References

  1. ^ a b c "'I owe my life to potatoes' — meet TikTok sensation Poppy O'Toole". Irish Independent. 25 September 2021. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  2. ^ "I've been all over the press this week… and it's time to tell my truth. There are two sides to every story. #truth #fakenews #allegations". Instagram. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  3. ^ a b Doyle, Ella (18 September 2021). "A Michelin-trained chef lost her job before becoming TikTok famous over potatoes". MyLondon. Archived from the original on 24 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Bromsgrove's Poppy O'Toole 'excited' to be Young MasterChef judge". Bromsgrove Advertiser. 3 January 2023. Archived from the original on 3 January 2023. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  5. ^ a b Perlman, Elisabeth (7 January 2024). "Chef Poppy O'Toole shares tales of sexism in 'toxic' kitchens". The Times. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  6. ^ a b Taylor, Joanna (19 February 2025). "The chef described an explicit sex dream he had about me to the whole staff". The Daily Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 29 July 2025. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  7. ^ Taylor, Lauren (23 October 2024). "'Potato Queen' Poppy O'Toole: I enjoy calling out body shaming trolls – I don't want to be silent". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  8. ^ Barton, Jennifer (3 September 2020). "Women Who Started A Business During Lockdown On How They Made It Work". HuffPost UK. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2025.
  9. ^ a b c d Nicholson, Rebecca; O'Toole, Poppy (26 January 2025). "Salt 'n' pepper chips, hash brown bhaji, hot honey and bacon mash – Poppy O'Toole's potato recipes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 21 July 2025. Retrieved 25 November 2025.
  10. ^ Kale, Sirin (16 May 2021). "The new food stars of TikTok". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025.
  11. ^ a b Evans, Hannah (21 February 2025). "Roasted, mashed or boiled? Hot tips from the potato queen". The Times. Archived from the original on 19 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  12. ^ "Poppy O'Toole's 'The Potato Book' is a butter-filled, spud-fuelled fever dream". The Independent. 12 March 2025. Archived from the original on 9 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  13. ^ "TV chef and social media star visits top Suffolk fish and chip shop". East Anglian Daily Times. 17 June 2025. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  14. ^ "Willy Wonka Meets Mary Poppins at Catering Taster Day". West London College. 4 May 2022. Archived from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  15. ^ Hallam, Katy (5 March 2023). "Saturday Kitchen chef addresses hilarious moment she used X-rated word live". Birmingham Live. Archived from the original on 12 March 2023. Retrieved 9 December 2025.
  16. ^ Bagwell, Matt; UK, HuffPost (5 March 2023). "Saturday Kitchen Live Viewers Left In Hysterics Over Guest Chef's NSFW Word Mix-Up". HuffPost UK. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  17. ^ "Woman's 'vulgar' slip of the tongue on live TV". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 10 December 2024. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  18. ^ Currie, Hannah (6 September 2022). "E4's Celeb Cooking School filmed in Warminster". Wiltshire Live. Archived from the original on 25 September 2025. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  19. ^ Honebeek, Talya (28 December 2022). "Weakest Link fans make same complaint as BBC airs celebrity special". Birmingham Live. Archived from the original on 29 December 2022.
  20. ^ "'Confidence is essential': Yorkshire students showing their cooking skills on Young MasterChef". Yorkshire Post. 11 January 2024. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  21. ^ Cannon, Nicholas (29 December 2023). "Young MasterChef season 2: release date, interview, trailer and all about the 2024 series". What to Watch. Archived from the original on 23 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  22. ^ "Non-fiction: Oliver claims the pole as air fryer cookbooks assemble". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 23 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  23. ^ Wagstaff, Eve (5 September 2024). "'Game-changing' slow cooker dish has fans obsessed – with just a few ingredients". Wales Online. Archived from the original on 1 February 2026. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  24. ^ Evans, Hannah (7 November 2025). "Poppy O'Toole's easy one-pot recipes". The Times. Archived from the original on 7 November 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  25. ^ Rodger, James (3 January 2024). "Emma Willis says 'finally' and 'it's been a pleasure' in TV career announcement". Birmingham Live. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  26. ^ Addicott, Lucy (17 April 2024). "Best selling air fryer cookbook from Jamie Oliver chef now £10". My London. Archived from the original on 21 May 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  27. ^ Taylor, Mike; Cook, Sam (30 July 2024). "Full line-up for ITV's Cooking With The Stars revealed". Wales Online. Archived from the original on 3 August 2025. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  28. ^ Reilly, Elaine (1 August 2025). "Cooking With The Stars 2025: line-up, release date, interviews and everything we know". What to Watch. Archived from the original on 17 September 2025. Retrieved 27 November 2025.
  29. ^ a b Williams, JaNae. "Recap: Was this Kevin Lee's week to check out on Food Network's 'Last Bite Hotel?'". The Oklahoman. Archived from the original on 8 October 2024. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  30. ^ Pollock, Sarabeth (18 March 2025). "House of Knives: complete season guide, cast, premise and everything we know about the Food Network series". What to Watch. Archived from the original on 28 April 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  31. ^ "Lacking inspiration at dinner time? These 7 new cookbooks will make your meals more exciting". Stylist. Archived from the original on 24 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  32. ^ a b "TV's 'Potato Queen' ties the knot on Herefordshire border". Hereford Times. 19 August 2025. Archived from the original on 30 September 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  33. ^ Hunt, Julia (24 January 2026). "Saturday Kitchen star returns to BBC show after baby announcement". Devon Live. Archived from the original on 25 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  34. ^ Rigler, Natasha (26 November 2025). "Celebrity MasterChef 2025: Jaki Graham is sent home after serving up dry chicken and raw potatoes". TV Guide. Archived from the original on 5 December 2025. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  35. ^ Ahmed, Hannah (23 January 2026). "Walkers urges crisps fans to act for £500,000 boost". Birmingham Live. Archived from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  36. ^ "Celebrity Mastermind, 2023/24, Episode 14". BBC. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  37. ^ "Talented & Terrible: Curtains - Worst Cooks in America (Season 29, Episode 7)". Apple TV. 1 September 2025. Archived from the original on 22 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  38. ^ Celebrity MasterChef - Series 20: Episode 5. Archived from the original on 12 December 2025. Retrieved 29 November 2025 – via BBC.
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