Hello. My name is Poppy O’Toole (aka Poppy Cooks). I’m a 29-year-old Michelin trained chef from a small town called Bromsgrove (near Birmingham) with nearly 10 years experience working in professional kitchens and now the self-titled Potato Queen 👑 But how did I get here…

Let’s throw it back to March 2020. Covid hit and I almost instantly lost my job in London due to hospitality essentially grinding to a halt. Whilst job hunting, I moved back home with my mom, step-dad and siblings and genuinely thought lockdown would last for three weeks. After getting zero attention from my younger brother and sister due to this new platform called ‘TikTok’, I decided to give it a go and film myself making my favourite recipes. Initially to distract myself from being very unemployed, but also to finally get approval from my brother and sister. I basically wanted them to think I was cool again. Still working on it tbh but I did take my brother to a John Wick premier so I’m getting there.

After a bit of trial and error, it turned out that I LOVED creating content for social media and was kinda ok at it, plus it kept my mind busy between applying for what must have been 100s of jobs. Probs need to work on my CV writing skills looking back…

After a few months my first recipe went viral – the McDonalds hash brown. Thank you Maccys!! Big Mac girlie 4lyf. Overnight my following skyrocketed and that boost encouraged me (alongside some really lovely feedback from OG followers) to keep going and sharing what I know. And what I know REALLY well is potatoes. I kept gravitating toward spud based recipes which ultimately led me to create the ’25 days of Christmas potatoes’ series, cementing my status as potato queen. My first job was in a pub peeling potatoes so clearly it was always meant to be. Since then, I’ve never looked back. Nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a classic roastie. You can fight me on that. TOP TIER.

One year later I was lucky enough to publish my first book (Poppy Cooks: The food you need) and start to branch outside of social media and into the world of telly. I’ve had the odd TV spot (not to brag but I came 4th on Celebrity Weakest Link) and even embarrassed myself on live TV. Basically I said a rude word. I didn’t know. I definitely do now. Sorry again Matt Tebutt and BBC One. I also did a mis-teeq rap for Alesha Dixon, but that’s another story…