Food Network Obsessed

Poppy O’Toole on TikTok, Tots, and Dealing with Trolls

Episode Summary

Episode Notes

Michelin-trained chef turned TikTok sensation, Poppy O’Toole opens up about her rise to viral fame and how her decision to move back in with her parents during the pandemic inspired her to pivot career paths. The “Potato Queen” details her decade-long culinary ascension from making tea in a retirement home to working in a pub, that eventually led her to become a junior sous chef at a Michelin star restaurant before the UK went into lockdown. Her newfound TikTok stardom came with inevitable internet trolls and hateful comments on her posts and she shares how she copes with sexists and negative people online and in the restaurant industry. Poppy reveals what impact she hopes to have on the culinary world, what motivates her to keep creating and sharing her recipes and why she chose potatoes as her staple ingredient. In this episode, she shares the secret to making her favorite recipes, which she’s introduced to the world through her 25 Days of Potatoes video series on TikTok and new cookbook Poppy Cooks: The Food You Need, with flavors ranging from crispy chips to potato-based desserts baked into every page.

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Episode Transcription

Jaymee Sire:

Hello, hello and welcome to Food Network Obsessed. This is the podcast where we dish on all things food with your favorite chefs, food influencers, and food network stars. I'm your host, Jaymee Sire, and today we have a Michelin trained chef and TikTok star on to chat about her potato obsession and how she faces internet trolls head on. She is a chef, content creator, cookbook author, and Food Network2023 Hot Lister. It's Poppy O’Toole. Poppy, welcome to the podcast, and a happy belated birthday to you.

Poppy O’Toole:

Ah, thank you very much. Only one day late, so it's not too bad. That's all right. Yeah.

Jaymee Sire:

. Well, I know last year you made a birthday cake made entirely out of potatoes, very on brand. How did you celebrate this year?

Poppy O’Toole:

This year it was less potatoes, more champagne. , .

Jaymee Sire:

I'm on board with that. .

Poppy O’Toole:

I don't think it's too bad. I think there was, there was definitely potatoes involved at some point, but yeah, I tried to be a bit classier

Jaymee Sire:

. Okay. Well both are, both are accepted. So also congratulations on Be named to Food Networks Hot List for 2023. What's your reaction when you heard the news?

Poppy O’Toole:

Far too excited. Running around, kind of waving and flailing around. But yes, so excited, and I can't believe it. It's a, it's a very proud moment because I love Food Network. I mean, you know, obviously it's a bit different in the UK to us mm-hmm. , but I've always watched it. It's always for me. So , just very exciting.

Jaymee Sire:

Well, congrats again. You are a Michelin trained chef, turned TikTok sensation, um, over 3.5 million followers to date. Can you kind of, for people that don't know or aren't as familiar, can you share the story of your transition and how different your day look now?

Poppy O’Toole:

Yeah, yeah. It's quite wild how different it is really. So I have been a chef for about 10 years. So I worked in pubs when I was younger in, you know, in the countryside. I worked in a, an old people's home in the kitchen making teas for everybody, you know, nothing really that glamorous. And then I got an apprenticeship at a Mission Star restaurant when I was 18, 19, around that age. And so I was there for about three years or so. So I worked my way up for apprentice to comedy chef, to Demi chef to party. So I was making, making my way through it. And then I just, that's where I really fell in love with food. I loved food anyway. I'm passionate about food. I absolutely love it. But there was something about the kind of, you know, like astronomic, sort of like, there's so many things you can do with it. It's not just your delicious meals. It can be so sciencey. Mm-hmm. and like, really bizarre for me, but amazing. So after I left that job, went to another place in my hometown of Birmingham in the UK and then I moved to London because obviously as a chef you are working about 70 hours a week. Like it is ridiculous. You know, you're there at seven o'clock in the morning and you're going home at midnight with an hour in between for a break. So I found a job in London that was more like Monday to Friday and office hours because it was in a bank, still fine dining stuff, but inside this bank. So I was there for a few years and I managed to become a junior sous chef there. Mm-hmm. . Um, and after that I joined a female member's club in Mayfair. So I was a junior sous chef there. And then that got us to 2020 , um, in March, 2020 when the pandemic hit quite severely. Yeah. And obviously I thought, like, I think with a lot of people in the UK we thought we were all gonna have like a couple of weeks off work . We were like, yeah, we'll have a couple of weeks off, it'll be great. And unfortunately I was let go of my job cause they were like, we're gonna close down for a month or so, so we're just gonna let go of everybody and we'll see what happens. And about a month later they were like, okay, so now actually yeah, you are, you are actually going like, we're not keeping anyone so bye. So that was really fun. And so then I started kind of just being like, what is it that I'm gonna be able to do? You know, I felt a little bit helpless at the time because of, you know, it was just such a strange time, wasn't it, in the pandemic? And it was so terrible for so many people. And I was very lucky to be able to get back to my parents' house for a little while. I just spent some time with them and they had a nice big garden. So I was like, okay, I'd rather be there than in the middle of London. Yeah. With no space to go . Um, so we were there and I just started making really basic recipes on TikTok because my little brother and sister were about 10 and 12 at the time mm-hmm. . And they were just scrolling. And I was like, what are you doing? What is that? And I'd kinda heard of TikTok, but not really not really dived into it yet. And I just wanted their, their attention mainly. So I was like, I'm gonna do some recipes. So we started off, we made some churros, we were making tomato sauce. And then when I realized that people were starting to follow and were enjoying the content and I could teach them, I don't know how to cook a little bit better at home, you know mm-hmm. , just to just bring something, you know, do something good in a time that was really bad, even though it was just cooking just spurred me on to kind of carry on at that point. And I just, just, that's where, and now we've got to at this point, which is absolutely ridiculous. amazing. But yeah, it's just continued on from there and it's just blossomed into an amazing career and a passion for me.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. No, and I, I think, I think that's so important is that that passion really comes through in all of your videos and you can see and feel like how much you care about the subject and, and, and what you're doing. But, but you mentioned, you know, like that time that was so difficult for so many people and losing your job and kind of, you know, upending your whole life. How did you stay positive and what, you know, what was your inspiration aside from, you know, your, your siblings

Poppy O’Toole:

? It was, I suppose it was, there was actually one of the recipes that I did with this tomato sauce. One of the key workers, I think they might have been a nurse or just a key worker at the time. Mm-hmm. put a comment being like, thank you so much for this. It's been a really hard time. And my family really enjoyed this. And it was a one time we could sit together and, and I was just like, you know, if this can make 1, 1, 1 person's day a little bit better, then I need to carry on. Also the fact that if I didn't carry on, I would just be sat watching the Tiger King without doing anything. So I need to, oh

Jaymee Sire:

My gosh, I forgot about Tiger King. Wow. Yeah, I mean, was there a, was there a particular viral video or moment that really kind of pushed that follower count over the edge? Or is it more gradual over, over the course of the last couple years?

Poppy O’Toole:

No, it took a while and then it went huge. So I was doing it for about six months and, and you know, you can, I was obviously, cause I wasn't working, so I was like, oh, how am I gonna make money from this? And then brands started getting into contact with me. So they give, I think the first job that I ever had, which was amazing. They gave me like two 50 pounds for a video and I was like, this is it. Maybe if I can make enough to like pay my half of the rent, I could just carry on doing this. That was like my idea. And then, so over the period of like six months, I think I got about 50,000 followers, which is huge. Like, can't take away the fact that's massive. Mm-hmm. . And then it was creeping up slowly. And then the UK went into another lockdown in November of 2020. So we had like two major lockdowns. And I was like, okay, well I'd done a recipe previously of potatoes and it was a first video to get a million views. And then I tested it again, a little, another little recipe video of potatoes near enough, almost a million views. So then when I heard about going into lockdown in November, I was like, okay, everybody's indoors. There is 25 days where they're not gonna be able to leave the house. What can we do? Potatoes, it's gotta be potatoes. So I did 25 days of potatoes, um, loads of different recipes. And I think we got to about like day 20. And I just did a little compilation of the potato recipes in the background and I just spoke over it in quite a posh voice. And that was it. Overnight, I mean, you know, through the couple of weeks of doing the potatoes, I'd gained like 150,000 followers, which was, you know, we were just, wow. It was growing and growing and growing. And then I did this compilation video and overnight I got a million followers.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh my gosh.

Poppy O’Toole:

A million followers. So I was like, I woke up in the morning and I was like, oh my goodness, what's happened? Like, my phone's going wild, what's going on? But it was really exciting. But that was, I think the US really came into its own in that one. I had so many followers from the USA it was amazing. You know, we saw a trend on TikTok of like, I dunno, dance talk or comedy talk. And I just made potato talk or potato talk and people just wanted to join the cult of potatoes.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. Why wouldn't they? I mean it's, it's, it's a great cult to be in , . I'm curious, you know, what's the best part about going viral and, and what's the worst part about it? Because I feel like some people don't realize that, you know, there is, you know, some, some downsides to it as well. I mean,

Poppy O’Toole:

The best part is that I then, you know, have been able to continue with what I'm doing because obviously saying you've got like over a million followers. I know we're at 3.5 now, which is huge. Yeah. So absolutely bizarre. But, you know, once you get past that point, it's kind of like, you know, I couldn't go back. Do you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. , there's no, like, you quite, quite far back from point . It's quite big. So yes. So I was excited to be like this, this is now actually my job. You know, I've got all these people that I need to give brilliant, delicious recipes and content too. So that's my job now. And then, but obviously the more eyes that are on you, the more you open yourself up to criticism, the more you open yourself up to just people being nasty,

Jaymee Sire:

trolls. Trolls.

Poppy O’Toole:

Like, you know, so there was a stage where I was like, oh, this is quite a lot. So a lot of pressure and it can be quite stifling to kind of want to carry on because it is like scary. And remember the next few videos that I did after getting like overnight millions, I was really worried, I was quite panicked about, are people gonna enjoy it? Is it gonna end? Are people gonna be like, that was rubbish. Like, you know, and, and then you do get those sort of trolls come through. But once you realize actually it doesn't matter, like, it really doesn't matter what someone who you have no idea is, is saying like, the only thing that they can really criticize is my food. Really? Mm-hmm. . And that's up to interpretation, you know? Right. Do you really know what it tastes like? Yeah.

Jaymee Sire:

They're not ,

Poppy O’Toole:

You have no idea. So I was like, well you know what, this, it doesn't have to be so scary when you just, you've gotta just let it go. Off you go. You just gotta let it roll off the back. Yeah. Roll off the back. That's not a phrase is it? What am I trying to say, Walter? Off a duck's back is what I'm trying to say.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, there we go. I knew what you meant.

Poppy O’Toole:

Roll off.

Jaymee Sire:

We'll start a new phrase. Roll off the back. Roll

Poppy O’Toole:

Off the back. .

Jaymee Sire:

But yeah, let's, let's focus on the positive because you do have such a huge, you know, fan base of adoring fans. Why do you believe that these people are so invested in you and just dedicated to helping you succeed?

Poppy O’Toole:

I think as much as it's like, oh, lost my job and everything, I think it's something that's been quite good to come out of the pandemic. We all mm-hmm. , I think as, as, as a species, we all want good things to happen and we all want hope and we all, you know, like a success story I suppose. And I've been so lucky that the audience that I've kind of grown around me have been, those sort of people are very supportive majority of the time and want to see, you know, me go from strength to strength, which I'm very, very lucky about. And then, and I just think also as well, they're really good recipes and I've got a little bit of backing of being a chef. Do you know,

Jaymee Sire:

Like Yeah. I like to, you have the resume

Poppy O’Toole:

That helps. Yeah, exactly. I like to think that helps

Jaymee Sire:

. Yeah, I think it does too. I mean, you mentioned that that early comment that you got, you know, somebody cooking your recipe at home and, and you know, having this time with their family. Are, are there any other stories like that you can share that, that have really touched you over the last couple years?

Poppy O’Toole:

Yeah. Oh, it was such a lovely story. Just before Christmas of, oh, was last year now 2022. I had a message come through from a mom saying like, my son is four and every night he has to go to bed listening to the potato lady . And he calls me, the potato lady has to watch a video before. And I was like, oh my God, this is the cutest thing I've ever heard in my life. The fact that there's like four year olds wanting to hear the potato I make, I like, I'm not absolutely that is a hundred percent my brand. I'll always be the potato lady. And you know, just hearing the sweet kind of things and, and getting the young generation interested in food as well. Mm-hmm. , you know, I get a lot of pictures come through of like, oh this is my sonn or daughter, you know, making one of your recipes. And I just think that's so lovely that it's so attainable to different generations and different people around the globe now, which is huge. Mm-hmm. . Um, and I just, I love that, I love teaching people and I love make bringing happiness through food cuz they all, it brings me happiness, so I want to bring it to everybody else as well.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. Did you kind of bring that same attitude and approach to your cookbook Poppy Cooks?

Poppy O’Toole:

Yes, absolutely. I did. So that the first cookbook, it, it's all about kind of the leveling up of your skills in the kitchen. So it's, it can be for novice cooks and also, you know, I was gonna say, well endowed cook, but that's completely not okay. What, what? I don't know. Good, good

Jaymee Sire:

. Yeah. Advanced. Yeah,

Poppy O’Toole:

Advanced is what I was trying to say. , I get my words mumbled up so

Jaymee Sire:

Bad. I love it.

Poppy O’Toole:

. So, you know, it goes through things I think every cook and every chef should know. So you know how to make a really good tomato sauce, how to make a really good white sauce like a bechamel or a mm-hmm. cheese sauce, how to make a mayonnaise, how to make salad dressings, how to make custards, how to make pastries. And then from those kind of like core recipes, you go into like a staple dish using that core recipe and then it goes into a brunch dish cuz everyone in lockdown got into brunches, like brunch was a thing cuz you're not getting up early enough to eat breakfast. So it's no, And there's a potato dish that goes with each of them and then like a fancy af dish that goes with 'em. So you've got like a repertoire of ways to use certain techniques into different dishes. And I think that's just a, it was just a really exciting thing to do because that's how I think cookbooks can be really easy to use. Sometimes that can be a bit confusing . So just being of like heresy tomato sauce, here's some things you can do with it

Jaymee Sire:

At some point. I feel like there has to be just a potato book, like in general, right?

Poppy O’Toole:

Absolutely. . I'm working to try and get that sorted. That's what needs to happen. I think it was weird cause I got the book contract and deal through before I became potato lady. Mm-hmm. So I had to put it in, you know, I'd already done my proposal in a certain way. So I was like, can I put a potato into each one? I'm like, yeah, absolutely. So I had to shove it all in, which was really good. So yeah. Uh, eventually I do wanna do just purely, purely the best, all of my best potato recipes into a book so that people can have it constantly.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. I think it should be called The Potato Lady , the Potato

Poppy O’Toole:

Coffee Cooks the Potato Lady. Popp

Jaymee Sire:

Cook is the potato lady. Popp explains why she calls herself the potato queen and how this obsession for the vegetable made her a star. When we come back, let's dive in. Let's talk about potatoes. You are the potato lady, the potato queen, as you've also called yourself. Your affection for this vegetable is truly unmatched. How did this love of potatoes develop? Or did you kind of just, you know, like you said earlier, kind of run with it when it be, you realize it was like a popular topic on TikTok?

Poppy O’Toole:

I I mean, I've always been a big fan of a potato, like who isn't to be fat. Like they're absolutely delicious . And I think when I started seeing that, you know, people were interested in them, I think because they're so widely available [00:16:30] mm-hmm. to everybody, you know, they're a cheap ingredient. They're really versatile, they're delicious, they're filling, they're

Jaymee Sire:

Not, they're comforting.

Poppy O’Toole:

Comforting. Yeah. They're not like intimidating at all. Everyone knows what potato is. So being able to see people reciprocate my love for them, I was like, need to push this out even further. So, yeah, so it it, I've always been a fan of a, like, there's no getting away from that. I just was able to actually give recipes that I've learned throughout my years in kitchens and, and throw them at the public, which is great.

Jaymee Sire:

. What, what is your favorite way to prepare potatoes?

Poppy O’Toole:

I'm really basic now. I know I do a lot of different recipes and I know sometimes, you know, you've got the 15 hour potato, which is my, one of the most viral recipes I've ever done, which is incredible. But I love it. But you can't be, for me a roast potato. Mm-hmm. I love a roast potato. I just think they are absolutely delicious. And, and in the UK we have Sunday roasts every single week. So every Sunday we get, I don't know, a leg of lamb, pork belly, chicken, beef, you know, and you do all your, all your trimmings with it. So roast, potatoes, all your vegetables, everything. But the standout to every Sunday roast is the potatoes. It's gotta be the potatoes. So I love them. They're crispy and golden on the outside. They're fluffy in the middle. They're like a square chip. I don't know, you know, or, or what is it? Fry? Not a chip. Yeah. .

Jaymee Sire:

I mean, you can say either. Yes. , what? Wait, what? So what is the key to like Absolutely the, the crispiest potatoes that have the creamies like inside.

Poppy O’Toole:

So I use a starchy potato, so I believe it's a rust or an Idaho mm-hmm. in the US

Jaymee Sire:

So what do you call it there?

Poppy O’Toole:

Marice Piper.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh, okay. Yeah.

Poppy O’Toole:

Weird. It's weird because when I was writing the books, we obviously, we sell it in the US and UK and Canada in different places. And I had to do the conversions of what things were. And I was like, there's no Mars pipes. What, what, what's gonna be the closest things? I did a lot of research. So yeah, Russett and Idaho. Okay. Into, into your, for your potato cuz they're nice and starchy. Mm-hmm. , which means they get fluffy, which is good. So then you're gonna power boil them. I boil them for a little bit longer. So they're, they're a little bit more tender cuz I really like the crisp, you know, like it's almost falling apart. Cause then you get all these little nuggets of crispy deliciousness and then really hot oil in a tray. I use vegetable oil or sunflower oil, but you can also use goose fat, duck fat. Very good. Cause they've got a very high smoking points. So you keep them in there really hot. And then once I've puled them, I drain the potatoes and then leave them in the calendar or whatever you drain them in. Put put a tea towel or something over the top to keep the steam in. Mm. And then that kind of dries them cuz you want 'em to be dry. It sounds weird steaming, but is drying. But it does and then they get super dry on the outside and they get 'em into the hot oil and they crisp up beautifully. And in the middle they're just fluffy and just crumbling. Oh, . It's making me quite hungry

Jaymee Sire:

Actually. . I know, me too. I think I, I'm pretty sure my stomach just growed. , what is your favorite potato video to date or recipe that you've done?

Poppy O’Toole:

That’s A difficult one. Oh. I think actually I'm bit onto like a hassleback hype at the minute. Mm-hmm.

Jaymee Sire:

Okay.

Poppy O’Toole:

And I think they're absolutely lovely. And the video that I did recently, I did 12 days of Christmas potatoes Mm. For people to, you know, kind of do for their Christmas dinner or for your Thanksgiving dinner. And I did these hassle backs with honey and garlic glaze and they, I think it got like, did it get like 11 over 11 million views.

Jaymee Sire:

So Oh my goodness.

Poppy O’Toole:

Stupid. And now am on a hassleback hype because it is delicious. And that little bit of sweetness that comes through with a bit of honey and they're gonna garlic, delicious garlic and butter and potatoes just work all so well. So all of that mixed together with a bit of honey. Oh, fantastic.

Jaymee Sire:

Be so good. Are, are there any myths or misconceptions about potatoes that, that you would like to address? We're giving you your soapbox so, you know, get up there and, and, and tell us why potatoes are so great and why anybody that thinks otherwise is wrong .

Poppy O’Toole:

Well, I think they get a bit of a bad stick for being like unhealthy. Mm-hmm. , but they're not, I mean, they're not really, if, you know, if you are having a dish that has any sort of carbon, you know, like a pasta, rice, potatoes, they're not that bad. Like for some reason I think they've been really treated with like, this scary sometimes with like, diet fads. It's like you can't have, you can't have the potatoes. You can, they're fine. They're natural, they're from the ground. Like they're, in essence, they're better for you than something that's processed. So have the potato enjoy it and slather it in butter and salt and garlic and live your life the way you wanna live it.

Jaymee Sire:

. I love it. No, I, I, I'm, I'm on, I'm team potato for sure. Yeah. You know, I'm curious too about, you talked about the, the cookbook shoot and, and all that. What, what is your favorite part about just that process of, of writing and developing recipes and, and, and kind of seeing all of that come to life in a book?

Poppy O’Toole:

It's really bizarre. It's really bizarre because obviously I never expected to be doing this sort of stuff. You know, when you're in a kitchen, you are kind of dream of writing a cookbook one day or having a restaurant and that's kind of like the end goal or getting mission stars. So to have that happen so much quicker than I was ever expecting it to or even thought it would happen has been incredible. So I think the, you know, being able to develop recipes as well and have, you know, some things that you think will work may not work and testing and it's just, it's just like getting into, going into all of my, I dunno, little boxes in my head of all the different places that I've worked at. What did you know, did that work, would that happen with that? Would that be nice? And trying to develop these recipes is, is really good fun. It's quite tedious, but it is good fun, you know. Yeah. Sometimes you do get a bit stuck, but it's really lovely to kind of get those creative juices flowing again because when you're making content every day, it can be a bit, you know, I I'm on my own mm-hmm. , I just sit on my own and it's very, I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm very happy I'm doing it. It's incredible. But it's good to have, you know, I've got a team like with the publishers and help with recipe developing and food stylists. So, you know, you get a bit of like, being back in a kitchen of like, back and forth of ideas. Mm-hmm. How its better. So it, it's, so, it's really good fun and I've got a great team that help help with it as well.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. And you mentioned obviously the, the constant content that you're still putting out as well. How do you balance all of that

Poppy O’Toole:

Badly ? I would love to say that I'm really, I would love to be like, yeah, I dedicate three days a week to developing recipes and making content and I like to dedicate the other four days a week to my, but no, I'm really not. I'm messy and unorganized and always in a rush and always late and always just, just, just winging it and hoping for the best

Jaymee Sire:

Poppy O’Toole:

But I'm trying to be better. Part of my New Year's resolution is to be better at it. So I bought a little journal so I can write things down. Let's see how long that lasts. It'll be a week and then it'll be on a pile of books. But I'm trying, I really am trying

Jaymee Sire:

, I mean, do you ever get, do you get to take like days off or, or is it just kind of, you're always working?

Poppy O’Toole:

I think I do, I do definitely take days off, but I always like to keep, you know, cuz I have Instagram as well, as well as TikTok. Mm-hmm. So it's quite fun to just kind of on my days off of like not doing content and not cooking. I kind of like to give my audience on Instagram. Like, you know, ask me questions. Do you, you know, what you having for tea today? , you know, what, what you eating? You know? So I'm always kind of engaging in something. But yeah, my, yeah, sometimes I do get days where I get to sit in my pajamas and eat biscuits and watch rubbish. Tele

Jaymee Sire:

. I wanna talk a little bit about your time in, in kitchens as well, because obviously a different kind of of hard work, right? And you started your apprenticeship in a Michelin Star restaurant, you were just 18 years old. What kind of challenges did you encounter, you know, specifically as a young woman trying to establish yourself as a professional in that world?

Poppy O’Toole:

Yeah, it's, it's very intimidating. And I was the only woman in there mm-hmm. . Um, and you know, you do think like, oh, I'm gonna have to be quiet and say the right thing and do the right thing. And, and after a little bit, once you get to know the people in there, you, you can, it's all right. But the right there are things that happen and, and whenever I do a post about, you know, what's kind of happened to me in the past when at the time I didn't really think twice about, but on reflection you go, actually that's in, in different places that I've worked. You go, that's actually not okay really for a young, a young lady, a young woman to go into these environments. And that happened. I, and I never, I don't want that to stop for everybody. So I do like to keep quite vocal about it. And whenever I hear about, you know, the toxic environments that people are in, and if there's any stories that come, I always wanna talk about it. Cuz we need to always speak about it. Otherwise it's never gonna stop. Yeah. And it's the same for men and women obviously, but then women do have this heightened, you know, vulnerability in terms of sexual assault that can come, you know, the, the misogyny that comes with it. So it's not just just being in a toxic environment. You get these other layers to it, which is terrible. But I think it's changing and I think it's stopping and I think the more, again, we speak about it mm-hmm. , the better it will be.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. I mean you, you've been very open about it as you've mentioned, the sexism and just, you know, all all like comments that you've received and, and, and like, honestly like actions that have been taken by men in power positions. What, what is, I mean you say it's getting better, but what's your hope for this accountability and, and it also, you know, getting, you know, better.

Poppy O’Toole:

I just, I dunno what the solution is. Mm-hmm. , obviously this solution is that people change and people stop doing it, which

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, that'd be nice.

Poppy O’Toole:

Will that it would be lovely if people drink. You know what, yeah. I'm not gonna be this horrible person today, but I don't think that's, that's, that's not gonna change. What's gonna change is the people around that situation. And how having, you know, relationships with your coworker, not, not relationship, but like friendships with your profess

Jaymee Sire:

Professional.

Poppy O’Toole:

Yeah. Professional relationships with your coworkers and having people stand up for the right thing that's done. You know, and, and cause when, when you've worked in kitchens and I don't know, you see something that's wrong, you de you never say anything. Do you know what I mean? You know, you all, you all, and you can look around and be like, why is he not saying, why is she not saying anything? And everyone's terrified to do something.

Jaymee Sire:

I'm scared.

Poppy O’Toole:

Yeah. Whereas I think people and definitely the younger generations are far more, far more better, far better at just staying. That's wrong, you know? Yeah. And I think as we go along in time, that generation who are very confident in standing up for the right will eventually push all of the rest of it out. ,

Jaymee Sire:

, what advice do you have for, for somebody who might be in a similar situation?

Poppy O’Toole:

Make yourself feel safe. If you don't wanna be in that environment, do not be there. You know, it's never worth, it's never worth your job. It's never worth being like, oh, I'll get these credentials to not be happy. Mm-hmm. , it's never worth it. And the best thing you can do is be better and leave, or, you know, leave that environment and, and do better. And show them that actually that didn't work. You know, and also just expressing as much as it's gonna be embarrassing and feel awkward and feel wrong, you know, it does feel wrong when you kind of like tell your superior or something, you know, you know, when you like is your superior, you're not meant to say anything. No. Just tell them and then walk out that it's their loss. They're the ones that have done this, you know, and it's really, it's so much easy to say that cuz I never did that. Yeah. I never had that confidence, but I never, I was never in, you know, some, some of the horror stories that I get sent, I was, I I can only go from what I experienced. Yeah. But some of them are so terrible and so vulgar, um, horrible. And I just don't want anyone to be in that situation. And as soon as you can get out, get out, you know. Yeah. It's never worth it.

Jaymee Sire:

I mean, I, I kind of mentioned this before, but you, I mean, you really do face criticism and, and the things that you've experienced in the past, like head on, you're very, you know, open about what happened to you, posting even rude comments that you still get. Yeah. , why, I mean, why is it important do you think, to, to make those things public and kind of force that conversation for people?

Poppy O’Toole:

I think because when I was doing, when I was in kitchens and when I was getting into food, I never really saw anyone who was, I never saw, I dunno, maybe cuz I wasn't into social media so much, I never saw many women or female chefs really talk about it. Mm-hmm. because I know that, I know for a fact it's easier not to, I know that for a fact because I did the same at some points, you know? Yeah. When I was there I never said anything. So I just wanna be there for people who may have similar situations to what happened to me. You know, being told that I only got my job because the guy fancied me, that I wasn't worth it. That I wouldn't have a job after the age of 25 because you're gonna get pregnant and no one's gonna wanna employ you. You know, this weird, it's not, I mean, it's not what some people experience and, and they get far worse, but it was still kind of like, kind of pushes you back a little bit and knocks you confidence when you are just trying to do what you love. So if I can just speak about it, so if that's happening to anyone, they can realize actually that doesn't matter. You know, it's not going to affect me. I can tell these people to shut up and I can still do, you know, and there's someone else fighting my corner as well and that's what I wanna be doing for people. Mm-hmm.

Jaymee Sire:

, what kind of feedback and, and messages and comments have you received since, you know, kind of posting about some of these stories?

Poppy O’Toole:

It's mostly very, very positive. It really is. And mostly like, thank you. You know what I, and I've had a lot of female chefs come forward and be like, I kind of thank you for kind of sharing it because I thought it was just me or I thought this was only happening to, you know, the people around me. So it's, it's just showing that, you know, there's, there's more people here to listen to you and to speak about it. And it's not just you and you shouldn't feel afraid, whether you man, woman mm-hmm. anything. You know, you should be able to at least say I'm unhappy in this situation and I don't wanna be doing it. And also, you know, we wanna, I want people to be working in kitchens. Mm-hmm. , I really want that. You know, there's a shortage of chefs in the UK the minute because of the hours, because of it being quite a toxic environment. And that has to change because I love food, I love cooking and I wanna give people that passion as well. But yeah, I get a lot of messages, mainly positive and mainly just, you know, kind of enjoying the open conversation that we can have.

Jaymee Sire:

I think it's important for sure. And, and as you mentioned, it's, you know, it's a toxic environment to begin with. Yeah. Why, why do you think that is? Like, why does it have to be such a crazy toxic environment?

Poppy O’Toole:

Don't know. I really, I, I mean obviously there's, there's obviously stress when it's someone's business and you know, it's their baby I suppose. Mm-hmm. , they obviously want it to do very well. Like that's, I get that there's, there's that surface level of stress. And I think without that kind of, you know, um, drive to want your business to do well, it'll be a bit rubbish. You do wanna have passion about it and you want your team around you to be as passionate as you are. I just think there's definitely a way of doing that. And normally it's through, you know, happy, happiness, always better. But I think there's a lot back, you know, back years ago in different decade, you know, it was quite, I dunno, glamorous to be, you know, the chef that goes out to the restaurant and goes, get out. You know, you are not eating in here if you don't like the food. I think that's done now. I don't think people want to do that. And everything's so much more casual, you know? Mm-hmm. . And I think that's the, the way it's going. So I do think that it's filtering out and obviously, yeah, like I said, you want your staff to be passionate about it. You just need to do that in a constructive way rather than ruling in fear doesn't work. Mm-hmm. . And it just makes people on the edge and it makes them more panicked about things and it makes more mistakes happen. It's always better when, you know, people make mistakes. You're human, that should be fine. You shouldn't be scolded for it for like weeks later.

Jaymee Sire:

, would you ever go back to a kitchen? Like if it was your own restaurant? Is that, is that in the cards for you? Or?

Poppy O’Toole:

Yeah, it's a really weird one. I do, you know, you do get this like, um, buzz from it, you know, you get the adrenal limb rush on being on a service and it can be incredible. So yeah, absolutely. I really wanna get into doing some popups and stuff like that and just, you know, I don't know if right now considering how unorganized, messy, and late I am to think if I could actually handle having my own place at the minute . But down the line when I've got my line, when I'm sorted and I've used my journal for a few years, I can actually, there you go. Do things then. I should be alright. I'd love to. I'd love to have something even just so it's like teaching people just somewhere that, you know, I can teach more people face to face how to cook and maybe just do services or something eventually. That would be great.

Jaymee Sire:

So what is next for you?

Poppy O’Toole:

So I have a book, a Yes Point, , and then hopefully another book would be great mm-hmm. and also coming out to the US soon as well. And I'm gonna be doing so exciting, I'm gonna be doing the, oh, what is it called? The Food Festival in Miami, which is

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, south Beach, beach Food and Wine Festival. Yes.

Poppy O’Toole:

Which is so exciting. That is exciting. So exciting. I've never been to Miami before, so I'm really looking forward

Jaymee Sire:

To it. Oh my gosh. What are you gonna be, what kind of event are you gonna be doing at the festival?

Poppy O’Toole:

So I'm doing a, I'm doing this main stage cooking, I think.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh, nice.

Poppy O’Toole:

You see, this is what I mean. I'm not organized enough to know what I don't know the name.

Jaymee Sire:

You just know you're gonna be there. You're gonna be there.

Poppy O’Toole:

I'm not gonna be there. I know what I'm cooking. I dunno if I know the date. .

Jaymee Sire:

It's in February.

Poppy O’Toole:

It's in Yeah, I know. I think, yeah, I know it's in February. I dunno the rest of it. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I, I'll just rock up and literally my whole life. It's just rocking up and hoping for the best.

Jaymee Sire:

I I mean, I think that the, it's worked for you so far, so, you know. Yeah.

Poppy O’Toole:

If it, if it's working, don't change it. Exactly.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah. If's If it's not broke, don't fix that. Yeah. . Yeah. What are, what are you gonna be cooking?

Poppy O’Toole:

Oh, so I'm cooking from the book. Cause I want to do something that's really quick and I can do everything in the, I think you get 20 minutes or so. Mm-hmm. , I wanna do everything in that time. So I'm gonna do my Ava, I think I call them Ava blooming card wraps, . So it's, you know, you make some flat breads, which are made in that, those 20 minutes. So I'm gonna show you Oh wow. To make it with a couple of ingredients. It's really fun. And it's halmi avocado, first cherry tomato. It was just really nice. Brunchy lunchy, Miami flavors. .

Jaymee Sire:

No, it sounds perfect. Well wait, no, there's no pat, no potatoes involved.

Poppy O’Toole:

No potatoes. I couldn't, I was thinking, you know, I can't really make them in under 20 minutes. That's hard. It's quite difficult. And I think it's quite nice to show a recipe from start to finish. The

Jaymee Sire:

Whole start to finish. Okay. Yeah. All right, well next, next one maybe you'll have to, we'll we'll do a potato one. You could have just have like a full potato event. .

Poppy O’Toole:

That's what I'd beat. Like a Potato Tara and share event.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh my gosh. Like different vendors and, and like, everybody's doing different types of potatoes. I mean, I think, I think we're onto something here. Yeah.

Poppy O’Toole:

We'll do the potato festival. That's what it needs to

Jaymee Sire:

Be. Yes. Oh my gosh. I love it. I love it. And it'll go along with your, your potato book. That'll be the third book. Potato Lady. Boy, it's been so, so fun talking to you. We do have a few rapid fire questions that we're gonna finish things off with, and then we have one final question for you. Amazing. Okay. Best french fry type, or I guess, should I say chips

Poppy O’Toole:

? Yes.

Jaymee Sire:

. Just, just best type, like, do you like the thin, thick, curly?

Poppy O’Toole:

Right. Okay. I was, I was going way too deep into the question.

Jaymee Sire:

Yes. Just all of them.

Poppy O’Toole:

All of them. I love a thick fry. A thick, a thick chip from the fish and chip shop in the uk. No, my favorite.

Jaymee Sire:

All right. What's your favorite fish and chips shop? That's a tongue twister.

Poppy O’Toole:

Fish and Chips Shop are my local one, actually. It's called the Cod Scallops. It's very good .

Jaymee Sire:

Okay. Love it. . Your favorite follow on TikTok?

Poppy O’Toole:

Drew Barrymore.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh,

Poppy O’Toole:

She's followed me. Oh. And people say that me and her look alike.

Jaymee Sire:

You do. You do.

Poppy O’Toole:

And I'll tell you that.

Jaymee Sire:

Have you been on her show?

Poppy O’Toole:

No. I was, we tried to, but because of different restrictions we couldn't do it. But I did message her and said, if you ever want me to stand in as you know double, I'm very, yes.

Jaymee Sire:

You're stunt. Double dream travel destination?

Poppy O’Toole:

Oh, ooh. You know what I'd love to go to? I'd love to do Asia. Mm-hmm. is, I'd love to just travel, you know, see Thailand and Vietnam and loads of other places that are there. I can't think from the top of my head now. I've forgotten the whole of the geography. ,

Jaymee Sire:

Poppy O’Toole:

Forgotten all of it. But I'd love to see more, more Asian cooking mate. Basically I wanna go for the food

Jaymee Sire:

. Yeah. I mean, why not? Like, that's why we travel, right? Yeah. , what is your Hogwarts house?

Poppy O’Toole:

I think I'm a huff puff. Okay. I think I give huff puff energy. . I really do.

Jaymee Sire:

I can see that. How do you take your tea or coffee?

Poppy O’Toole:

Coffee. Black with nothing in, I dunno why. I think I'm just so used to, when you're in a kitchen, the first thing you have in is an espresso or an America. No, that's it. So that's my go-to coffee or I am a pumpkin spice latte.

Jaymee Sire:

You are

Poppy O’Toole:

It's one or the other. No. In between. And then very

Jaymee Sire:

Different. Yes.

Poppy O’Toole:

Very, very different. And then tea is two sugars and then little bit of milk.

Jaymee Sire:

A little bit of

Poppy O’Toole:

Milk, English, breakfast tea. Yeah.

Jaymee Sire:

Yes. And the kitchen tool. Kitchen tool. Everyone needs to have ,

Poppy O’Toole:

A potato peeler, a speed peeler. You have to have it. I've seen, you know, obviously like my, my nana, my mom, they peel with a knife and it's great. Very good technique. But peeler straightaway. You

Jaymee Sire:

Like the, the, the Y peeler or like the straight? Yeah, the Y.

Poppy O’Toole:

Okay. Yeah, the Y peelers. I just think that they're really handy and you can peel those things and you can like peel, cucu, not cucumber. Yeah. You call it cucumber.

Jaymee Sire:

You. You can do it. Yeah. Cucumber. Okay.

Poppy O’Toole:

I was thinking zucchini is cool JT, isn't it? No. Yeah. So peel cucumber ribbons and you can make nice salads with it.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, you can do. That's true. It's a very handy tool. Yeah. You can do a lot of things with it.

Poppy O’Toole:

Basically. Good

Jaymee Sire:

. Yeah. All right. Our last question is not rapid fire. You can take as long as you want on this. We ask everybody the same question. Everybody has a different answers. So it's always fun to hear everybody's answers on this. What would be on the menu for your perfect food day? So we wanna hear like ideal breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. There are no rules. You can travel time, travel, you know. Okay. Calories don't count. Like there's no rules. So whatever your ideal do . Yeah, I know, right? .

Poppy O’Toole:

Okay. So I think, Ooh, okay. Breakfast. Breakfast. I would be, we are doing breakfast, lunch, dinner, is that right? Yes. Breakfast,

Jaymee Sire:

Lunch, dinner, dessert. All of them. Yeah.

Poppy O’Toole:

Oh, okay. Breakfast. I would have, I love eggs Benedict. Mm. Love eggs Benedict. Yes, but I do, oh what's it called when you have salmon on it? Eggs royal.

Jaymee Sire:

Oh, okay. Sorry.

Poppy O’Toole:

Eggs royal. So you know you have your English muffins, poached egg, you smoked salmon and Holland sauce. Love that

Jaymee Sire:

Little bit. So good

Poppy O’Toole:

With an America. No and a nice freshy squeezed orange juice. Yeah, that is my kinda go-to. And then lunch, I would go for a selection of chicken wings. I just love chicken wings. They're my favorite thing. So I'd go like buffalo hot chicken wings. We need like a barbecue chicken wings. We need a sticky kind of Jack Daniels glaze chicken wings selection. Quite a large

Jaymee Sire:

Selection, just like a platter of wings

Poppy O’Toole:

Platter. I need the buc cheese dip. I need the celery. And then I think I could probably just that just, that might actually just suffice for lunch. Probably with a cherry Coke

Jaymee Sire:

Poppy O’Toole:

And for dessert from lunch, I'd have a little bit of ice cream. Okay. Bit of mint C chip ice cream. Okay. Because you can have dessert for lunch. I think that's, sure. I think that's perfectly fine.

Jaymee Sire:

No rules.

Poppy O’Toole:

And then for dinner, ah, dinner's hard because I like a lot of things.

Jaymee Sire:

. Well you, you can have multiple, you know, you can throw, throw a couple things in there if you want. Okay.

Poppy O’Toole:

We’re gonna do a three course dinner set. I love it. So to start off with, we're gonna have french onion soup.

Jaymee Sire:

Cause you

Poppy O’Toole:

I just love french onion soup with the, you know, the big stale baguette in it with loads of guer cheese, like the whole, like the proper tradit. And we'll have a coup to champagne with that

Jaymee Sire:

Of course.

Poppy O’Toole:

Because why not then for the main course? Oh no, this is hard. . It changes every single time. When everyone, it changes constantly. I think. Oh my goodness. What am I gonna eat for my main course? I already had my chicken wings . Oh, nice. I think I'm not even gonna keep it classy. We'll just go for one. No, I'd want a, I think I'd want a burger.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, of course.

Poppy O’Toole:

sometimes

Jaymee Sire:

Burger's great.

Poppy O’Toole:

Sometimes just the right burger. But like smash burger, I like thin.

Jaymee Sire:

Yes. I was just gonna ask you what kind of burger? I love a smash Burger.

Poppy O’Toole:

Burger. And with the onions in there as well.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, like cheese, smash 'em right in. Yeah.

Poppy O’Toole:

and like, but we want like three patties. I want like a good hefty amount. Some crispy bacon in there. No salads. We'll just go pure meat and cheese and bread. Yeah. With some, oh, I'm gonna go thin fries. I'm gonna like French fries. Fries, okay. With it. And I've, I've, I want a milkshake. I'm gonna have a milkshake.

Jaymee Sire:

Yeah, you should.

Poppy O’Toole:

With it. It's gonna be an Oreo milkshake. Ok. Love Oreo milkshake. And then on the side though, I would actually have a little Caesar salad.

Jaymee Sire:

Okay.

Poppy O’Toole:

I'm really, I'm a big fan of a Caesar salad. Yeah, that's just a little side bit. Okay. And then for dessert, oh, I'm gonna go a lemon rag pie.

Jaymee Sire:

Okay. Sounds lovely.

Poppy O’Toole:

. Yeah, plenty. You know what, that sounds like a normal average day of food to me. Actually.

Jaymee Sire:

, , you know. Well, it sounds like a lovely day of food for sure. . It sounds delicious. Right up my alley. Especially with the, the champagne and the French and soup and the burger. Yeah, the wings. I mean, the whole thing. I I love a Benedict too. We're, we're definitely on the same page, so we'll have to, we'll have to have a brunch sometime when you, uh, make it to New York

Poppy O’Toole:

. It's definitely a buffet style brunch. So we can get through everything.

Jaymee Sire:

Yes. We'll just get all of it. Yes, absolutely. . Uh, well, poppy was so much fun talking to you. It's so awesome to hear and see all of your success. And I'm sure it's just the beginning.

Poppy O’Toole:

Oh, I hope so. Yeah. This is amazing. Thank you so much for having me. And I'm so excited and happy to be on the hot list and everything and just be here.

Jaymee Sire:

Thank you. Congrats. You can catch more of Poppy on Instagram at Poppy underscore Cooks and on TikTok at Poppy Cooks. And make sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss a thing. And if you enjoy today's episode, please rate and review. We love it when you do that. That's all for now. We'll catch you foodies next Friday.