August 1, 2023 • 43 mins
TikTok potato queen Poppy O’Toole takes us on a tour of the villages around Bromsgrove where she grew up. She tells us where her food obsession started, how she begged her way into her first kitchen and how she first reached a million views on TikTok. Poppy even brought some snacks along for the ride!
We matched Poppy with a cute little Smart ForTwo, her dream vehicle, for a trip to The Barnt Green Inn, Grosvenor House care home, the Queen’s Head in Bromsgrove and Bilston Market in Dudley.
Plus, we're giving away the Smart ForTwo, Poppy's dream car (which we loaded with potatoes!). Go to @autotraderuk on Instagram to see the car full of spuds and find out how you could win!
To find your perfect match, go to www.autotrader.co.uk
Show on the Road is a Fresh Air Production for Auto Trader.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Poppy O'Toole (00:01):
This is the kind of thing that I bring when I
go on road trips because I'm obsessed with eating. I
should love it. Just getting messy, being silly, and being
able to isolate, ride my bike around country roads. I
was a bit feral. My little brother and sister definitely
inspired me because they were constantly on TikTok, constantly on social
(00:22):
media, and I was like, " Oh, hello? Give me attention.
I'm cool too," so then I was like, "Oh, I might have a go at this."
Alex Legouix (00:30):
This is Show On The Road, brought to you by
Autotrader. We're driving famous faces on a personalized road trip,
visiting the places that help shaped them and hearing how
the locations turn them into who they are today. We've
matched each celebrity with a car chosen specifically for them.
So join me, Alex Legouix, as we get this show
(00:52):
on the road. I'm going to have to find a drive-
through after this next chat as I've got a feeling this
conversation is going to make me hungry. Today's guest is
Poppy O'Toole. She's a chef with more than 4 million
social media followers, having made a name for herself as
the potato queen, thanks to her huge variety of potato
recipes. Since then, she's gone from strength to strength. Among
(01:14):
other things, she's a co- host of BBC Three's Young
MasterChef. Poppy's followers might have come for the potato recipes,
but they stay for her warm, upfront and funny approach
to cooking. We're about to go for a drive in
the surrounding areas of Bromsgrove where Poppy grew up, and the
car we've matched her with is a Smart Fortwo Pure.
Poppy O'Toole (01:36):
No way. This is amazing.
Alex Legouix (01:38):
You like?
Poppy O'Toole (01:38):
Is this for me?
Alex Legouix (01:38):
Yeah.
Poppy O'Toole (01:49):
Oh-
Alex Legouix (01:50):
Come in.
Poppy O'Toole (01:50):
My God. I love little toy Smart cars. They're the best.
Alex Legouix (01:55):
They're so cute.
Poppy O'Toole (01:55):
Oh my God. Thank you. This is brilliant.
Alex Legouix (01:59):
Hi. It's so dinky.
Poppy O'Toole (02:04):
It's so dinky. I love it. This is the best thing ever. I have always just loved these. There was one car
that I always wanted when I was younger, but I
still haven't got one. I don't know why. I'm well excited.
Alex Legouix (02:18):
Have you had a good day so far?
Poppy O'Toole (02:19):
Yes, thank you. It's a bloody lovely day, isn't it?
Alex Legouix (02:21):
I know. Should we go on a-
Poppy O'Toole (02:23):
Okay, let's go on a journey.
Alex Legouix (02:24):
Adventure.
Poppy O'Toole (02:25):
I've got snacks.
Alex Legouix (02:27):
Yeah, it's a bag of snacks.
Poppy O'Toole (02:28):
There's a whole bag of snacks. So I don't know
if you want to share some snacks, but this is
my kind of... If I'm going on an adventure, I
pack too many things.
Alex Legouix (02:36):
Okay. And what sort of things are on your snack list?
Poppy O'Toole (02:39):
Okay, so we start off with the best sandwich you
could ever have, which is a crisp sandwich.
Alex Legouix (02:47):
A crisp sandwich?
Poppy O'Toole (02:48):
Yeah. So I've got-
Alex Legouix (02:49):
Of course, going with the potato thing.
Poppy O'Toole (02:49):
Absolutely. So I've got bread and butter, because you can't make a
crisp sandwich too early, because the crisp goes soggy in
the butter. So we've got bread and butter, and then
we've got our crisps to add to it, so that can-
Alex Legouix (02:59):
And what flavor crisps?
Poppy O'Toole (03:01):
I'm a salt and vinegar.
Alex Legouix (03:02):
Yeah, me too. Oh my God, all over.
Poppy O'Toole (03:03):
Yeah. Sometimes a prawn cocktail if I'm feeling a bit
extra, but mainly a salt and vinegar kind of girl, me.
Alex Legouix (03:16):
So we're on the outskirts of...
Poppy O'Toole (03:18):
Alvechurch.
Alex Legouix (03:19):
Yes. Why here?
Poppy O'Toole (03:21):
So I went to middle school here and then this
is where my family lives around. It's all similar areas.
They're all quite close to each other, where everyone is. It's a
lovely little village, and just outside of it, one of
my first jobs here.
Alex Legouix (03:38):
So who was little Poppy?
Poppy O'Toole (03:40):
Basically exactly the same, also food obsessed, and just... I
went back to my middle school to go and do a talk, one
of the pupils asked, " Oh, what were you like at
school?" And I was like, "I don't know. I think I was quite outgoing.
I think I was quite funny," and then my old
(04:01):
teacher went, " Yeah, she was a very awkward and different
student," and I was like-
Alex Legouix (04:06):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (04:06):
Oh, I've got a whole different impression to what I thought I was like. But yeah,
I think in terms of that, I was quite outgoing,
but in a... I don't know. I don't know what
the thought, in a different way, I didn't really care about
what anyone else was doing or thinking or...
Alex Legouix (04:24):
Well, that sounds pretty healthy to me.
Poppy O'Toole (04:27):
Yeah, but I don't know if I took that a
bit too far and just didn't care about anything at all.
Alex Legouix (04:32):
That's fair enough. Do you have fond memories of growing up?
Poppy O'Toole (04:36):
Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to go back. Do it all again, I think.
Alex Legouix (04:40):
Would you?
Poppy O'Toole (04:40):
Yeah. Really good fun. I just had just random wild
things going on all the time. I'd be playing in
mud, I'd be in puddles. Again, would love to do
that now, but it's not quite as socially acceptable for a 30- year-
old to be doing it. I should love it. Just
getting messy, being silly, and I used to ride my
(05:01):
bike around country roads. I was a bit feral.
Alex Legouix (05:05):
So is it quite a nice area to grow up?
Poppy O'Toole (05:07):
Yeah, it's a lovely place. It's really, really nice. It's got
lots of parks, lots of green areas. Teenage years, went
in towards Bromsgrove, that's where all my friends were. So there
was only a couple of us really from Alvechurch side
in our friendship group, so we would always just be in
Bromsgrove at that point. But it was lovely. There was a
(05:28):
little bakery, little butchers, and me and my family were obsessed
with cooking, so we'd always be at the butchers and always
be doing that sort of stuff. So we were just always
in the village.
Alex Legouix (05:42):
Nice.
Poppy O'Toole (05:42):
Lovely little village.
Alex Legouix (05:43):
Yeah. Nice. What's it like to come back?
Poppy O'Toole (05:46):
Oh, I love it. I'm regularly back now.
Alex Legouix (05:49):
You are?
Poppy O'Toole (05:50):
Yes. I don't live too far away. I live in
Birmingham now, so I'm always around. It just feels nice
to be here. We can be near my family, my
little brother and sister, both of our families, my partner's,
Tom's family anyway, and it's just more relaxing.
Alex Legouix (06:08):
And you've got doggies?
Poppy O'Toole (06:11):
And we've got lots of doggie now, yeah. We've got too
many dogs. We've got three dogs now. We've got two pugs,
one is nine and called Kipper, one is seven and
called Crypto. And now we've got a puppy, a German
Shepherd, who is a few weeks old. Well, 14 weeks old.
Alex Legouix (06:29):
Oh, it's just too cute.
Poppy O'Toole (06:29):
I'm so excited. He's called Red and he is absolutely adorable.
Alex Legouix (06:36):
Were you an animal person when you were growing up?
Poppy O'Toole (06:39):
Yeah, obsessed with animals. I've always been obsessed with dogs.
I used to pretend I was a dog very regularly,
but to a point where my mum had to actually
stop me because I would eat out of a bowl
on the floor, I'd drink water out of a bowl
on the floor. We didn't have dogs. My nan and
grandad had a Doberman. But I've always been, but an unhealthy
(06:59):
obsession with them, I love them, just more than anything
else, any dog.
Alex Legouix (07:05):
Yeah, I do. They're so cute. This is really nice around here.
Poppy O'Toole (07:14):
It's beautiful, isn't it? There's the canals. The canals are great.
I love a canal.
Alex Legouix (07:17):
There's canal boats over there. So tell me more about where
we are.
Poppy O'Toole (07:22):
So we are now in Barnt Green, and it's a bit
posh actually, I think even footballers live here.
Alex Legouix (07:28):
Oh. So can you describe this area for us?
Poppy O'Toole (07:31):
So this is another little village, it's very green and
rural as well. We've got reservoirs, we've got canals, a
couple of local pubs. And this was where my first
school was and this is where, again, a lot of
my friends and family are around here. And this is
(07:56):
prevalent in my life, I think Barnt Green is one
of those places, and my grandparents used to live not
too far, just basically in Barnt Green.
Alex Legouix (08:05):
Is this where you worked in the pub, in Barnt Green?
Poppy O'Toole (08:07):
No, so I never worked anywhere in Barnt Green, it's
too posh for me, Barnt Green. So I worked at a care home in Alvechurch,
which we go through kind Barnt Green to get towards.
Alex Legouix (08:21):
Yeah, we're going to go there.
Poppy O'Toole (08:22):
But this pub that I think we're going to, called
the Barnt Green Inn, was a staple in my everyday
life. My mum and her friends spent a lot of
time here, and my uncle, everyone, my nan, my grandad,
this was the place to be.
Alex Legouix (08:39):
Ah, the Barnt Green Inn.
Poppy O'Toole (08:42):
Yes. It's changed a few times. When I was younger
it used to be a Toby Carvery.
Alex Legouix (08:47):
That's an amazing building.
Poppy O'Toole (08:48):
It's incredible, isn't it? I don't know what it used to
be. Sorry, I'm literally videoing it. I don't know what it
actually used to be back in the day. But we spent
a lot of time in here and really brilliant memories,
it was so much fun.
Alex Legouix (09:01):
It sounds like you have some really lovely memories of
your childhood.
Poppy O'Toole (09:05):
Yes, really, really good. Basically just causing chaos with adults.
It was great. I used to do cartwheels around the front of
here, just literally.
Alex Legouix (09:15):
This is all great fodder for your TikTok videos. I
hope that you are doing cartwheels and dances. You were
just basically in rehearsal for TikTok as a child.
Poppy O'Toole (09:27):
Yeah, that was it. Could have been a very different
TikTok channel.
Alex Legouix (09:35):
So tell me more about this area and where we
are going next.
Poppy O'Toole (09:38):
Okay. So I was working in a care home in Alvechurch,
which is just not far from where my grandparents used
to live, but they passed away at this point, but
it wasn't both, it's just literally on the same road, and I was working in
a pub as well. So I think we are en
route to the care home.
Alex Legouix (09:59):
How old were you when you were here?
Poppy O'Toole (10:02):
I must have been about 16, maybe, and I was here for about a
year or so, and I cried when I handed in
my resignation.
Alex Legouix (10:11):
Oh, really?
Poppy O'Toole (10:12):
Because I hate letting people down and I was like, "
I'm so sorry I've let you down." But this was
just mad, I used to run home from school. Well,
not even run home, I'd have a bag in the car,
come straight here, do my shift here, always be late
here because I was having tea and watching The Chase, as kind of an
(10:33):
excuse and sit down, and then I'd go to my
second job, and that was every night.
Alex Legouix (10:38):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (10:38):
So that's what I mean, when I clocked out of school, I was like,
I'm not doing my work, I'm just going to go
to work and make money, and sit with old people and
drink tea, it was great.
Alex Legouix (10:46):
Aw, that's really nice. I really like what you said
about that realization as well that food brings people together,
and it's so true, isn't it?
Poppy O'Toole (10:57):
Yeah, absolutely. I always thought that, but when I was
here, it really made a difference. You can just see
the normality of it, of food. Everyone does it every
single day, but if you take some time whilst you're
eating to chat, or it can be something special and
(11:19):
it can make a massive difference. And that's where I
just realized that food was definitely my love language for anybody.
Alex Legouix (11:27):
Yeah. That's really nice.
Poppy O'Toole (11:30):
It's definitely something worth doing and I think if anyone is
looking to do something that makes them feel like a
good person, it's definitely getting in and looking after older people.
It's sad, but very, very fulfilling. That's why I loved having
conversations with them because they don't care who I was, it wasn't
(11:54):
a thing, they just wanted to tell me their story
and I was like, " Yeah, tell me. Absolutely, Gladys, go
for it." And we'd just get ... as well, a lot
of them did have dementia, so it would just be
wild random stories just going off on curveballs and be like, " Yeah,
go on. Yeah, tell me more. Then what happened?" And
(12:15):
it was just exciting for them as well, it was just really good fun.
And I make a mean cup of tea, so they
were always happy about that as well. One good thing
is that my partner is very good at remembering everything
so he can remember all the stories from when I
was there and stuff, and then has to remind me and I'm like, " Who? What?"
And he knows it all.
Alex Legouix (12:35):
You've been together for a while then?
Poppy O'Toole (12:37):
Yes, we've been together since school.
Alex Legouix (12:39):
No!
Poppy O'Toole (12:40):
Yeah, we met at high school and eventually got together
when we were 16.
Alex Legouix (12:50):
Oh my God.
Poppy O'Toole (12:50):
So we've been together for 13 years. Yeah.
Alex Legouix (12:53):
Oh, my word. I haven't done anything for 13 years.
That is a serious, committed... Wow.
Poppy O'Toole (13:03):
It's quite nice growing up together, because now we know
every single detail of everything that we've ever done, which
is lovely.
Alex Legouix (13:12):
Oh, that's so nice. Gosh. So he's really seen your
journey as well then?
Poppy O'Toole (13:18):
Yeah, It's been wild. Absolutely wild. And he's been a
big part of it as well in terms of helping
and pushing me to do it, because it was never
meant to be like. I never realized this was going
to be my life.
Alex Legouix (13:33):
Yeah, of course.
Poppy O'Toole (13:33):
It was working in kitchens, I'd worked my way up
to junior sous chef, and then because of the pandemic, lost
my job, like a lot of people. And he was
the one who was like, oh... My little brother and
sister definitely inspired me because they were constantly on TikTok, constantly
on social media. And I was like, " Oh, hello? Give
(13:56):
me attention. I'm cool too," so then I was like, "
Oh, I might have a go at this," and he
was like, " You should be doing... Yeah, go on, make
a recipe, do something." And then he pushed me in
the right direction with it a lot and eventually... Well,
he's much better at editing videos than me, so it
used to take me a very, very long time to edit a video
(14:16):
for my socials and now I'm like, " Babe?" He's on
that now for me-
Alex Legouix (14:23):
That's incredibly useful.
Poppy O'Toole (14:24):
Which is amazing. Very useful.
Alex Legouix (14:27):
We'll come into detail about your TikTok shortly, but we
are now in what looks like a very beautiful little village.
Poppy O'Toole (14:35):
Yeah, this is Barnt Green Village, this is Hewell Lane,
the high street. My first school was just down there
and I used to basically make my mum, very demanding
child, I used to be like, " Mum, I'm not going
to school unless you get me a Three Cooks ham
and coleslaw sandwich on the way to school."
Alex Legouix (14:55):
Oh, there it is. There's that ham and coleslaw.
Poppy O'Toole (14:57):
Yeah, that's where it came through. So it used to
be here, I think. Just there. Now I think it's a butchers, but
that used to be my obsession. I'd make contracts the
night before, going to school, I'd write them up, because
at one point I wanted to be a lawyer.
Alex Legouix (15:13):
Right, first of all, contracts saying what?
Poppy O'Toole (15:15):
Saying to my mum, I'd put her name in, her full
name, put my name in, will not be attending school
unless the certain rules are followed or something, I can't remember what
I used to put. A Three Cooks ham and coleslaw
sandwich. I used to demand a Red Bull.
Alex Legouix (15:35):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (15:36):
Yeah, wild. This is when I was seven. I was just
naughty, really naughty, and a Crunchie or something like that. It'd
be proper demanding of what I wanted. And then make
her sign it the night before, and then I think
she'd go, " Yeah, yeah. Go to bed." Because I'd be like, " I'm only
(15:57):
going to bed and going to school if you sign this."
So I used to do that and then make her
go through with it the next day and bring out
the contract saying, " You signed this last night." I must
have got her to do it at... You know when you're half
asleep? Be like, " Mum, sign this. I need it for
tomorrow," and then just not tell her what it was.
Or it would be a Maccies breakfast.
Alex Legouix (16:18):
Well, that's fair.
Poppy O'Toole (16:18):
Before school. I'd be like, " No, I'm going to go
and get my Double Sausage & Egg McMuffin, sweetie. Let's go."
Everything revolved around food. I just love eating food.
Alex Legouix (16:27):
Yeah. Okay.
Poppy O'Toole (16:27):
Love it.
Alex Legouix (16:27):
So we don't want to digress too much, but were you
always thinking about food and pleasures of food and what sort of things you wanted to eat and stuff?
Poppy O'Toole (16:34):
Yeah. It's always been my thing.
Alex Legouix (16:40):
You enjoyed eating it?
Poppy O'Toole (16:43):
I enjoy it. I used to go to school with, I
used to try and find the most different fruit I'd
ever seen. So pomegranate was a whole... It blew my
mind, pomegranate did, because I'd never seen anything like it.
So I'd go, I'd be like, " Mum, can I take
a pomegranate in?" She'd be like, " You sure you want
to take a whole pomegranate in school?" Yeah. So I'd
go in, purely to be like, " Guys, look at this
(17:04):
pomegranate." I love experiencing food and showing people food and stuff.
Alex Legouix (17:11):
Wow.
Poppy O'Toole (17:11):
So I'd be there, one by one individually picking out
pomegranates, and trying to feed my friends. And a lot
of them would be like, "Ugh, no," because it looks weird if you've never
seen it before. Yes, I used to do that, or
just dragon fruit, kumquats, physalis. I used to go random
stuff because I'd just find them in the supermarket and
be like, " I want to take this in school and eat it."
Alex Legouix (17:33):
Are you the chef each evening? Are you the one
that cooks?
Poppy O'Toole (17:37):
Yeah, but you know what? I'm really bad now. Because
I'm always cooking potatoes, a lot of the times, and
especially with some of the recipes that I do, they're
sometimes not full dishes in some ways, it can just
be the best roast potato or the best this. So
sometimes we end up just literally for dinner having a
(17:59):
bowl of mash or a bowl of roast potatoes.
Alex Legouix (18:06):
So where are we now?
Poppy O'Toole (18:08):
So now we are entering Bromsgrove, and this is where
I went to high school and this is the hub
of everything in my life, I suppose. We're going towards
my second job, which I was working at at the
same time as I was at the care home and used to run
to, literally, and be late to everything. I'm a very
(18:30):
late person in general, I'm not good at timekeeping, which
again, wouldn't be great for a lawyer. Also not great for a chef though.
Alex Legouix (18:36):
I was going to say, it's not ideal probably for a chef.
Poppy O'Toole (18:40):
But yeah, so we're going to a pub called The Queen's
Head, which I used to work at, and actually my partners
have worked there as well for a small time. And
I started off as a waitress, then I became bar
person, and then I eventually begged my way into the
kitchen. So getting into an actual kitchen was very exciting
(19:03):
for me to see, I suppose, again, it was to
see if I really wanted to do this. I loved
being front of house. I loved it.
Alex Legouix (19:13):
What was it like then to take that step up
to the kitchen in that sort of environment?
Poppy O'Toole (19:20):
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. I begged and pleaded and they were like, "
No." And then eventually, I took in a tart, I
made a salted caramel and chocolate and pecan tart.
Alex Legouix (19:36):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (19:36):
And I was like, " Try this and tell me I
shouldn't come and get into the kitchen," and they were like, "
All right, just shut up and get in the kitchen."
Alex Legouix (19:45):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (19:45):
So eventually I was allowed in, and then it just
went from there. So then it was very pub food,
it was scotch eggs, it was sandwiches, it was steak
baguettes, proper pub grub. Then one day they left me
to do the whole... I think the chef didn't turn
up or something, I did the whole service on my
(20:06):
own. It was the worst day of my life. It was hell.
I was 17 or 18, in a kitchen, which is getting ticket, it's
a sunny day, and I was like, " What am I
doing here? This is not fun." And I went down,
I went so down. It was taking half an hour
to an hour for people to get a sandwich because
(20:27):
it was just chaos.
Alex Legouix (20:28):
Oh, you poor thing.
Poppy O'Toole (20:29):
Oh, it was horrible. But really quite good fun at
the same time, I loved the thrill of it. But
I had to basically talk my way out of getting
fired. I was like, " You left me in a kitchen
with no help. What do you want me to do?" I was like, "
I'm not qualified to be doing this," and eventually then
(20:50):
they were fine with me, but I was like, " Oh, God." So
that's where I learned those skills. And the chefs did
look after me. They used to teach me stuff, and
I started looking at doing apprenticeships whilst I was there
and stuff, so that was it.
Alex Legouix (21:11):
So talk to me about TikTok. How did that come about?
Poppy O'Toole (21:15):
This is mad to think. So I was working in
London, obviously things were happening in 2020, and I remember
it being really scary and listening to the news and
all that sort of stuff. So I lost my job
and that was like, okay, fine, cool. Lost my job. It's
going to be all right. And then it was like,
(21:37):
and we're going into lockdowns and all this sort of stuff.
So I called my mum and I was like, " Mum,
please can you come and pick us up?" And we
went back and my little brother and sister were literally
just constantly on their phones and I was like, " What are you
doing? Why are you being so boring? Come and talk
to me." And I started literally watching what they were
(21:58):
watching. I was like, "Oh, this is addictive. This is really good fun,
actually," and it was all dances. And then one cooking one
came up and I was like, okay, it's interesting, you
can do cooking on here. I literally thought it was
just silly dances. And I wanted to have their attention
mainly and make them think that I was mildly cool
(22:19):
and knew what TikTok was. So we went into the
kitchen, I got my little sister to help me, we
made some churros, or is it a tomato sauce? I
can't remember which one we made first. And that was
it, that was where it all began, and people started
to enjoy it. I think I got one comment from
a key worker at the time just saying, " Thank you
for this recipe on this tomato sauce. It was a
(22:40):
lifesaver after a hard shift at work and the family loved
it." And I was like, whoa, another way to connect
with people through food and I don't even have to
be there. This is mad. So then that just carried
on and again, obviously not having anywhere to go or
(23:01):
work, I felt really helpless in the whole situation of
it, which I know a lot of people did. And
it was a very strange time, wasn't it? Looking back,
it's so bizarre. And so I just carried on cooking, just
cooking on there and just wanted to share some recipes.
And gradually, people started following. And it wasn't until I
(23:27):
did a few series, I did one of what a
chef eats in a day sort of thing, so I would then do
three recipes a day, a breakfast, a lunch, a dinner, and people
could then come and watch the recipe videos after. And
everything was going well, it was right. So I then
(23:47):
did a recipe video that was a potato, and it
was the first recipe video I had that got a
million views and I was like, right, okay, this is
huge. A million views. And then we went into a
second lockdown in the November of 2020 and I was
like, right, well, the one video that's done the best
(24:09):
I've ever done is potatoes, so let's just give the
people what they want. If they want to see some
spuds, I've got loads of recipes for potatoes. So I
did 25 days of potatoes and within... I started it
off with, I think I had about 75, 000 followers or
about 100,000 followers, and then a week in, I had 200,
(24:29):
000 followers. And I was like, wow, okay, people love
potatoes. And then I did, on day 20 or something, I did
a compilation video, put all the recipes in the background,
and I just spoke over it, and I remember doing the
voiceover a few times and I was speaking normally and I was like, it's really
(24:51):
boring, me just going, " Hiya, this is Potato TikTok," whatever.
So I was like, I'm going to do just a posh
voice, hang on. And I was like, " Tom, just leave
me alone. Let me just do this because it's embarrassing.
This is my drama GCSE D, it's coming out. I'm
going to do a voiceover." And I did a posh voiceover it and it
just worked. And I was like, yeah, that's quite funny actually. I like
(25:12):
that. And I went, " Hello, and welcome to Potato TikTok,"
and it just blew up, and overnight, I got a
million followers.
Alex Legouix (25:22):
What?
Poppy O'Toole (25:23):
From that one video. I'd seen a trend of people
making DanceTok or ComedyTok or something, so I just was like let's do PotatoTok, PotaTok, and make this little
corner of people to just fall in love with potatoes.
And that was it. And then I had five more
(25:45):
days of recipes to do and I was so scared.
I was like, " I've now got a million followers. These
recipes need to be really good. I don't know what I'm
going to do." Because nothing I ever do is planned.
I hadn't already thought through what recipes I was going
to do. I was just making them on the day and going, " Yeah, that works.
That's going to be a nice recipe." So it was
just from there. And luckily and thankfully, people have still
(26:09):
carried on following and enjoying the stuff, the content.
Alex Legouix (26:14):
Wow.
Poppy O'Toole (26:14):
And now I'm at four point something million followers on TikTok.
Alex Legouix (26:16):
All of that is a mental story.
Poppy O'Toole (26:20):
It's just, it's absolutely bizarre.
Alex Legouix (26:23):
Your very first TikTok potato dish, what was that?
Poppy O'Toole (26:28):
Ever, ever? It was crispy cubes of potato, and I
made dinner, I'd done it, I'd recorded my stuff for
the day, so I made a dinner for myself and
Tom and I'd done these crispy cubes of potato. He went, "
Did you record that? Because they're delicious." And I was like, "
No, I haven't yet," and he went, " Record it now.
(26:49):
Go and do that again." I was like, " Oh no,
I don't want to make the potatoes." He's like, " Just do it," he was like, "
People will love this." So I made them again. Again,
I have to give a lot of credit to Tom.
He knows what people want to see. And Tom was like, " You
need to record this," so I recorded them. And it's just
literally small cubes of potatoes, you par boil them, you
(27:09):
roast them off in the oven and then you just
coat them with a little bit of Parmesan and a
little bit of parsley, salt, pepper, bit of lemon if
you fancy, bit of garlic, just toss them all together
and that's it. So I recorded it and it was the first one to get a million.
Alex Legouix (27:23):
Amazing.
Poppy O'Toole (27:23):
And that's another way that I learned that, oh, I want
to show people even more things that would be incredible, which
seemed so simple.
Alex Legouix (27:34):
How do you cope with any negative comments or backlash?
Poppy O'Toole (27:39):
I had a point in the beginning because, like I said, I
don't criticism, so I try and make sure everything's right
constantly. And so when people started being like, " That's disgusting,"
I was like, " Ah, this is the worst time," and
I couldn't quite separate the two things. So it was
(28:03):
like, well, and at some points I'd be like, " I don't want
to post this. I don't want to do this. I
don't want to do this." But I then had a
flick of a switch, I suppose, where I was like, people
are only criticizing the food, doesn't matter. If someone doesn't
like something, that's fine. Yes, it's annoying that they think
that they can say quite horrible things about it, but
(28:27):
that's on them. Let them do their own thing. And
a lot of the time I do come back as well and be like, "
Did you try it? Have you tried it? Did you
do the recipe and it didn't work? No." It's fine.
You don't need to say that, yes, you don't like
this certain thing, fine. But I now get to a point
where I don't always read all of the comments.
Alex Legouix (28:48):
I was going to ask that.
Poppy O'Toole (28:50):
Because there's been a lot of, you get the body
shaming stuff, and I never thought I'd be in a position
where I was going to be a chef on social
media, but I definitely never thought I was going to
be in a position where I was going to have
to be an advocate for body positivity.
Alex Legouix (29:08):
So what do I do with this, I guess, almost
role model position that I find myself in? What do I
do with this body positivity? How do I feel about
it myself? Let alone how am I meant to-
Poppy O'Toole (29:22):
Yeah, exactly.
Alex Legouix (29:22):
Pass on messages?
Poppy O'Toole (29:24):
So I just would never be able to stand there
and go, " Well, yeah, call me fat. Fine." No, shut
up. You don't get to call anybody any horrible names.
So get over it. And also, yeah, I'm a bit
bigger, but fine. Who cares? I eat potatoes all day,
what do you expect? I eat roast potatoes for dinner. But
(29:48):
it's never been something that's really bothered me. But I
remember the first few times I was like, oh, I
had my finger on the post button and it's me in
a bikini, I'm like, oh, it's a weird position because
I don't care, I don't mind if people are looking
at it, but I've never put it out there for
anyone to look at and then judge me on and
it's like, oh. And I had a few minutes where I was like, no,
(30:11):
yes, no, yes. I was like, oh, my mum's friends. No. Yes. Oh,
just go. Just do it.
Alex Legouix (30:17):
Yeah, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (30:17):
Just do it because it might help somebody else who
thinks that way about themselves, and they should never think that.
Alex Legouix (30:29):
You talk about the comments and stuff on TikTok. For
some reason, I suddenly just thought about the fact that
in any other walk of life where, like if you
work in TV or radio or any of those things,
you have a support network and there would be someone
that helps you. In certain TV shows, there'd be a
(30:52):
team of people that would help the stars with their
mental health, dealing with things like that. There's no support,
is there, in the world that you are in?
Poppy O'Toole (31:04):
No, not really. I'm really lucky, I've got obviously my
partner and family and everything who are all... And also
I've always just been a cocky, confident idiot half the
time, which that's part of what's happened. But I did
actually eventually go and get therapy.
Alex Legouix (31:24):
Oh, did you?
Poppy O'Toole (31:24):
Yeah, because it slipped from affecting just being like, oh
no, that comment was horrible, to me being in a
bad mood, or me not being confident to do anything.
So I was like, let's just do a little bit
of work and see if it helps. And it did help, it just helped being like,
oh, I can't control that, that's one thing I can't
(31:49):
control is what people have to say. And that was
really good, really good for me. And then also just
being able to control how much I invest into the
people who are commenting as well and be like... The
whole thing for therapy and the one big thing that I
took away from it, I basically also got dumped by
(32:12):
my therapist as well, because I wouldn't turn up on
time and I couldn't commit constantly, because things would... With
this mad, weird, busy lifestyle that I have, I'd have
to, at the drop of a hat, be like, " I'm so
sorry, a job's come in, I can't be there," and
eventually she was like, " I think come back when you've
(32:33):
got more of a routine that you can actually be there," and I was like, "
Okay, valid. Sorry sweet." But the one thing, the main
thing that I took away from it, is you cannot change
anybody, the only thing is you can change your outlook
or your perception of what's happening. But there isn't any
(32:55):
support for anyone in social media, especially, I feel terribly
sorry for the younger people as well because, yes, I'm
young in a sense, I'm 29, but I have got
my partner who I've been with for years, I've got
all my friends from when I was younger, I've had
(33:16):
many jobs, I've had loads of different life experiences. These
almost children get into this and have a huge platform
instantly and it's like that, I couldn't deal with it
when it happened to me, it was mad. So to
be a teenager doing it, oh, it must be terrifying.
Alex Legouix (33:37):
That growth over such a short space of time.
Poppy O'Toole (33:40):
And back in my day when we just had Facebook,
not everyone was documenting every single thing that they were
doing, or not everybody could see everything that you were doing.
So it's a scary place, I think, for some people,
especially for the younger generations, and I do hope there's something
(34:02):
that can be put in place to... Trying to get
rid of trolls and stuff like that, there needs to
be something a bit stronger that is in place to
help people. Because you can't just go around, and most
people wouldn't go around normally in the street going, " Ugh,
you are absolutely disgusting. You should die." People don't say
(34:22):
that. And it's like, why do you think, just because
it's not face to face, you can?
Alex Legouix (34:29):
Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it?
Poppy O'Toole (34:29):
Bizarre.
Alex Legouix (34:35):
Tell me about Junior MasterChef.
Poppy O'Toole (34:38):
Oh, Junior MasterChef is so good. So we had the
first season, was in January this year, and it was
amazing. It's basically MasterChef, but cool because I'm on it.
It's the most uncool thing anyone could ever say. But
(34:59):
it's for 18 to 24 year olds, so they could go on the
normal MasterChef, but this one, the tasks and the challenges
fit that generation. We're making delicious pizzas, we're doing social
media challenges, and all of the cooks on there are
(35:20):
doing social media bits as well, a lot of the them
were already experimenting in it, because this is a whole new
world where people can have a very successful career in
cooking without having to go and be 70 hours a
week in the kitchen. And who wouldn't want that? Especially
if it's your passion and you love food, I'm all
(35:42):
for it.
Alex Legouix (35:43):
What qualities do you look for in a young chef?
Poppy O'Toole (35:48):
Willingness to learn is a big one, I think you
have to be, in a chef. Because a lot of
the time you go into it and think you know
what you're doing, and then someone will show you there's
a better way or something, and you have to be
able to adapt and take that on board. Just, really cliche, a
passion for food or just to enjoy it or to
(36:09):
just show me that you know what you are trying
to get to, even if something doesn't work. Making mistakes
and stuff, they're going to happen, but there's that wanting
to be perfect almost, I suppose. And some energy. You
need spark to be a good cook. You need to
be ready to change everything up at the blink of an eye.
(36:33):
You've got to be a problem solver, especially as a
chef. Problems are always happening and you've got to be
able to do it so quickly that no one gets
told off. So anyone who can go from a disaster
to just something that's edible is good enough for me,
I'm happy with it. And then also just knowing flavors
and seasonings. It's one thing to give me a dish
(36:59):
that's got a mild mistake in, but if you under
season, that's the real big one, that's the problem.
Alex Legouix (37:11):
Okay, so this is Bilston Market, is that what it's called?
Poppy O'Toole (37:16):
Yes. Beautiful Bilston Market. This place is a huge part
of my childhood.
Alex Legouix (37:25):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (37:26):
It's like a proper-
Alex Legouix (37:26):
That's proper old school.
Poppy O'Toole (37:28):
Yes. This is where I used to get my shoes,
my clothes, my tomatoes, and my pork baps. This was
the place to be. And we'd always get a parking
fine, because my nan literally used to park in here,
or on these double yellows, and she'd be like, " We're only running in
for a second," and we'd be there for hours. It's
the best. It's so good. I loved it here. It used to
(37:50):
have the best tomatoes I've ever had in my life.
And so my nan used to come in, so her family are
all from Dudley, so we would come up and on
a Thursday was when the fruit and veg market was
here, I think. So my nan would actually get me
out of school and me, my nan and my mum would
come here, come and get her mum, so my great-
(38:11):
grandmother, and we'd all come to Bilston Market. So it was four
generations all coming to Bilston Market and it was amazing.
Alex Legouix (38:18):
Gosh, so your nan was actually also quite pivotal in
getting you into-
Poppy O'Toole (38:22):
Huge.
Alex Legouix (38:23):
This world?
Poppy O'Toole (38:23):
She was a big cook. My uncle would be over
on Sunday, me and my mum would be there, and
it would be a big thing to have a Sunday
roast. And every night there'd be something new, she'd be
getting out Delia's books and starting to do something. So
she was always cooking and there was always something on
the stove. We'd go down the lanes, we'd go just
(38:47):
foraging for stuff and make jams. So she really got me
into the kitchen. So I'd be chopping or peeling or
cooking or baking constantly, just to do something. Do you
want some snacks?
Alex Legouix (39:00):
Yes.
Poppy O'Toole (39:01):
Okay, cool. I do as well. Okay, right.
Alex Legouix (39:03):
Well, it's a good time because we can eat our
snacks as we finish our episode.
Poppy O'Toole (39:08):
Would you like a crisp sandwich?
Alex Legouix (39:11):
Yes, please.
Poppy O'Toole (39:12):
Okay, cool. I've got salt and vinegar as well.
Alex Legouix (39:15):
Oh, amazing. Yes.
Poppy O'Toole (39:15):
My bread's got a bit squashed.
Alex Legouix (39:16):
That's fine.
Poppy O'Toole (39:17):
But it's going to be fine. So there's some crisp
for you.
Alex Legouix (39:19):
Thank you.
Poppy O'Toole (39:20):
Crush them up as you want. I don't know how
you want your crisp sandwich.
Alex Legouix (39:22):
Okay. Well, that's not something I've had for about 20 years, at least.
Poppy O'Toole (39:26):
Really?
Alex Legouix (39:27):
Yeah.
Poppy O'Toole (39:27):
Oh, we're going to be living the dream today then.
This is going to be amazing. So I've got my best
buttered bread, and I thought just a half, I think, for today would be...
Alex Legouix (39:38):
Yeah. Okay.
Poppy O'Toole (39:39):
So this is all buttered up. This is the kind
of thing that I bring when I go on road trips
because I'm obsessed with eating. So you got to do... Oh my God,
what are these? Ah, I brought the wrong crisps. Ah, they're baked.
Alex Legouix (39:58):
Whoa.
Poppy O'Toole (39:58):
No.
Alex Legouix (39:59):
Have you though? Or is that what... That might be
what our producer put in.
Poppy O'Toole (40:04):
No, this is fully me.
Alex Legouix (40:05):
This is what you did?
Poppy O'Toole (40:06):
Oh, no. I went to the supermarket and I just picked
the one that was green instead of looking at the actual
label. Well, let's try it. Let's see. Baked. Oh, no.
I don't know how I feel about this. There's not many as well. Bloody hell. No
wonder they have the healthy version, they only give you about
five crisps to eat, isn't it? This is rubbish. We'll
(40:29):
see. We'll see what it's like.
Alex Legouix (40:32):
Okay.
Poppy O'Toole (40:33):
And then you can squash it. You've got to get the...
Alex Legouix (40:37):
Yeah. Okay. I understand that. There's something about humans loving the
crunch, isn't there?
Poppy O'Toole (40:43):
I'm distraught.
Alex Legouix (40:43):
And so before we start eating, I've really enjoyed learning
more about your world and your life.
Poppy O'Toole (40:51):
Thank you.
Alex Legouix (40:52):
How has it been for you?
Poppy O'Toole (40:54):
I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It's been lovely to see
some of the places that... You know when you go
past places and sometimes you do it every day? Like
going around like Barnt Green and Alvechurch, I do that
mildly regularly because my family still live there. But then
going through and actually thinking about the things that happened
in those places, oh, it's so cute. It's so cute and
(41:15):
it's so like... Oh my God, why am I literally tearing
up a little bit? But it's just cute to look at
where things are, you know what I mean? And have a little
bit of history behind them.
Alex Legouix (41:25):
What do you think has made you emotional?
Poppy O'Toole (41:29):
I think it's just looking back and actually thinking about
what... I never realized how much... Oh my God. Stop. This
is ridiculous.
Alex Legouix (41:42):
Take your time.
Poppy O'Toole (41:44):
How much food and people and how the things I
did when I was younger, I'd never really looked at them
to be an influence, I suppose, but they are, and
that's weird.
Alex Legouix (41:56):
And you've told some really compassionate stories about people who
obviously mean an awful lot to you and they've really
molded who you are today.
Poppy O'Toole (42:08):
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's what it is. Especially talking
about my grandparents as well, because my nan was a really
big influence. Very lovely. And she enjoyed a crisp sandwich as
well. Just looking at all of this is sweet. And then being
here as well, literally, being in Bilston Market, eating a
crisp sandwich. It's just lovely to think about it. And
(42:30):
I think she'd be very shocked at what's happened, all
because she used to do a good Sunday roast. Anyway,
here's the crunch. It's still quite good actually.
Alex Legouix (42:44):
It is really good.
Poppy O'Toole (42:48):
Okay, I take it back. The baked crisps work.
Alex Legouix (42:51):
Thank you. Thanks so much to Poppy O'Toole for giving me such
a great insight into her life. You can see exclusive
footage of the drive by heading to the Autotrader socials.
Look at the episode page for links. You'll also be
able to see the Smart car that we drove around
in and be in for a chance of actually winning
(43:14):
it. Check out @AutotraderUK on Instagram to find out how to win
the car. And if you are looking for a new
vehicle, you can find your perfect match at autotrader. co.
uk. This is a new show and I'd love you
to follow on your favorite podcast platform. Like what you
hear? Rate and review, and make sure you tell your
(43:36):
friends so you don't miss an episode. Show On The
Road is a Fresh Air Production for Autotrader.
This is the kind of thing that I bring when I
go on road trips because I'm obsessed with eating. I
should love it. Just getting messy, being silly, and being
able to isolate, ride my bike around country roads. I
was a bit feral. My little brother and sister definitely
inspired me because they were constantly on TikTok, constantly on social
(00:22):
media, and I was like, " Oh, hello? Give me attention.
I'm cool too," so then I was like, "Oh, I might have a go at this."
Alex Legouix (00:30):
This is Show On The Road, brought to you by
Autotrader. We're driving famous faces on a personalized road trip,
visiting the places that help shaped them and hearing how
the locations turn them into who they are today. We've
matched each celebrity with a car chosen specifically for them.
So join me, Alex Legouix, as we get this show
(00:52):
on the road. I'm going to have to find a drive-
through after this next chat as I've got a feeling this
conversation is going to make me hungry. Today's guest is
Poppy O'Toole. She's a chef with more than 4 million
social media followers, having made a name for herself as
the potato queen, thanks to her huge variety of potato
recipes. Since then, she's gone from strength to strength. Among
(01:14):
other things, she's a co- host of BBC Three's Young
MasterChef. Poppy's followers might have come for the potato recipes,
but they stay for her warm, upfront and funny approach
to cooking. We're about to go for a drive in
the surrounding areas of Bromsgrove where Poppy grew up, and the
car we've matched her with is a Smart Fortwo Pure.
Poppy O'Toole (01:36):
No way. This is amazing.
Alex Legouix (01:38):
You like?
Poppy O'Toole (01:38):
Is this for me?
Alex Legouix (01:38):
Yeah.
Poppy O'Toole (01:49):
Oh-
Alex Legouix (01:50):
Come in.
Poppy O'Toole (01:50):
My God. I love little toy Smart cars. They're the best.
Alex Legouix (01:55):
They're so cute.
Poppy O'Toole (01:55):
Oh my God. Thank you. This is brilliant.
Alex Legouix (01:59):
Hi. It's so dinky.
Poppy O'Toole (02:04):
It's so dinky. I love it. This is the best thing ever. I have always just loved these. There was one car
that I always wanted when I was younger, but I
still haven't got one. I don't know why. I'm well excited.
Alex Legouix (02:18):
Have you had a good day so far?
Poppy O'Toole (02:19):
Yes, thank you. It's a bloody lovely day, isn't it?
Alex Legouix (02:21):
I know. Should we go on a-
Poppy O'Toole (02:23):
Okay, let's go on a journey.
Alex Legouix (02:24):
Adventure.
Poppy O'Toole (02:25):
I've got snacks.
Alex Legouix (02:27):
Yeah, it's a bag of snacks.
Poppy O'Toole (02:28):
There's a whole bag of snacks. So I don't know
if you want to share some snacks, but this is
my kind of... If I'm going on an adventure, I
pack too many things.
Alex Legouix (02:36):
Okay. And what sort of things are on your snack list?
Poppy O'Toole (02:39):
Okay, so we start off with the best sandwich you
could ever have, which is a crisp sandwich.
Alex Legouix (02:47):
A crisp sandwich?
Poppy O'Toole (02:48):
Yeah. So I've got-
Alex Legouix (02:49):
Of course, going with the potato thing.
Poppy O'Toole (02:49):
Absolutely. So I've got bread and butter, because you can't make a
crisp sandwich too early, because the crisp goes soggy in
the butter. So we've got bread and butter, and then
we've got our crisps to add to it, so that can-
Alex Legouix (02:59):
And what flavor crisps?
Poppy O'Toole (03:01):
I'm a salt and vinegar.
Alex Legouix (03:02):
Yeah, me too. Oh my God, all over.
Poppy O'Toole (03:03):
Yeah. Sometimes a prawn cocktail if I'm feeling a bit
extra, but mainly a salt and vinegar kind of girl, me.
Alex Legouix (03:16):
So we're on the outskirts of...
Poppy O'Toole (03:18):
Alvechurch.
Alex Legouix (03:19):
Yes. Why here?
Poppy O'Toole (03:21):
So I went to middle school here and then this
is where my family lives around. It's all similar areas.
They're all quite close to each other, where everyone is. It's a
lovely little village, and just outside of it, one of
my first jobs here.
Alex Legouix (03:38):
So who was little Poppy?
Poppy O'Toole (03:40):
Basically exactly the same, also food obsessed, and just... I
went back to my middle school to go and do a talk, one
of the pupils asked, " Oh, what were you like at
school?" And I was like, "I don't know. I think I was quite outgoing.
I think I was quite funny," and then my old
(04:01):
teacher went, " Yeah, she was a very awkward and different
student," and I was like-
Alex Legouix (04:06):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (04:06):
Oh, I've got a whole different impression to what I thought I was like. But yeah,
I think in terms of that, I was quite outgoing,
but in a... I don't know. I don't know what
the thought, in a different way, I didn't really care about
what anyone else was doing or thinking or...
Alex Legouix (04:24):
Well, that sounds pretty healthy to me.
Poppy O'Toole (04:27):
Yeah, but I don't know if I took that a
bit too far and just didn't care about anything at all.
Alex Legouix (04:32):
That's fair enough. Do you have fond memories of growing up?
Poppy O'Toole (04:36):
Yeah, absolutely. I'd love to go back. Do it all again, I think.
Alex Legouix (04:40):
Would you?
Poppy O'Toole (04:40):
Yeah. Really good fun. I just had just random wild
things going on all the time. I'd be playing in
mud, I'd be in puddles. Again, would love to do
that now, but it's not quite as socially acceptable for a 30- year-
old to be doing it. I should love it. Just
getting messy, being silly, and I used to ride my
(05:01):
bike around country roads. I was a bit feral.
Alex Legouix (05:05):
So is it quite a nice area to grow up?
Poppy O'Toole (05:07):
Yeah, it's a lovely place. It's really, really nice. It's got
lots of parks, lots of green areas. Teenage years, went
in towards Bromsgrove, that's where all my friends were. So there
was only a couple of us really from Alvechurch side
in our friendship group, so we would always just be in
Bromsgrove at that point. But it was lovely. There was a
(05:28):
little bakery, little butchers, and me and my family were obsessed
with cooking, so we'd always be at the butchers and always
be doing that sort of stuff. So we were just always
in the village.
Alex Legouix (05:42):
Nice.
Poppy O'Toole (05:42):
Lovely little village.
Alex Legouix (05:43):
Yeah. Nice. What's it like to come back?
Poppy O'Toole (05:46):
Oh, I love it. I'm regularly back now.
Alex Legouix (05:49):
You are?
Poppy O'Toole (05:50):
Yes. I don't live too far away. I live in
Birmingham now, so I'm always around. It just feels nice
to be here. We can be near my family, my
little brother and sister, both of our families, my partner's,
Tom's family anyway, and it's just more relaxing.
Alex Legouix (06:08):
And you've got doggies?
Poppy O'Toole (06:11):
And we've got lots of doggie now, yeah. We've got too
many dogs. We've got three dogs now. We've got two pugs,
one is nine and called Kipper, one is seven and
called Crypto. And now we've got a puppy, a German
Shepherd, who is a few weeks old. Well, 14 weeks old.
Alex Legouix (06:29):
Oh, it's just too cute.
Poppy O'Toole (06:29):
I'm so excited. He's called Red and he is absolutely adorable.
Alex Legouix (06:36):
Were you an animal person when you were growing up?
Poppy O'Toole (06:39):
Yeah, obsessed with animals. I've always been obsessed with dogs.
I used to pretend I was a dog very regularly,
but to a point where my mum had to actually
stop me because I would eat out of a bowl
on the floor, I'd drink water out of a bowl
on the floor. We didn't have dogs. My nan and
grandad had a Doberman. But I've always been, but an unhealthy
(06:59):
obsession with them, I love them, just more than anything
else, any dog.
Alex Legouix (07:05):
Yeah, I do. They're so cute. This is really nice around here.
Poppy O'Toole (07:14):
It's beautiful, isn't it? There's the canals. The canals are great.
I love a canal.
Alex Legouix (07:17):
There's canal boats over there. So tell me more about where
we are.
Poppy O'Toole (07:22):
So we are now in Barnt Green, and it's a bit
posh actually, I think even footballers live here.
Alex Legouix (07:28):
Oh. So can you describe this area for us?
Poppy O'Toole (07:31):
So this is another little village, it's very green and
rural as well. We've got reservoirs, we've got canals, a
couple of local pubs. And this was where my first
school was and this is where, again, a lot of
my friends and family are around here. And this is
(07:56):
prevalent in my life, I think Barnt Green is one
of those places, and my grandparents used to live not
too far, just basically in Barnt Green.
Alex Legouix (08:05):
Is this where you worked in the pub, in Barnt Green?
Poppy O'Toole (08:07):
No, so I never worked anywhere in Barnt Green, it's
too posh for me, Barnt Green. So I worked at a care home in Alvechurch,
which we go through kind Barnt Green to get towards.
Alex Legouix (08:21):
Yeah, we're going to go there.
Poppy O'Toole (08:22):
But this pub that I think we're going to, called
the Barnt Green Inn, was a staple in my everyday
life. My mum and her friends spent a lot of
time here, and my uncle, everyone, my nan, my grandad,
this was the place to be.
Alex Legouix (08:39):
Ah, the Barnt Green Inn.
Poppy O'Toole (08:42):
Yes. It's changed a few times. When I was younger
it used to be a Toby Carvery.
Alex Legouix (08:47):
That's an amazing building.
Poppy O'Toole (08:48):
It's incredible, isn't it? I don't know what it used to
be. Sorry, I'm literally videoing it. I don't know what it
actually used to be back in the day. But we spent
a lot of time in here and really brilliant memories,
it was so much fun.
Alex Legouix (09:01):
It sounds like you have some really lovely memories of
your childhood.
Poppy O'Toole (09:05):
Yes, really, really good. Basically just causing chaos with adults.
It was great. I used to do cartwheels around the front of
here, just literally.
Alex Legouix (09:15):
This is all great fodder for your TikTok videos. I
hope that you are doing cartwheels and dances. You were
just basically in rehearsal for TikTok as a child.
Poppy O'Toole (09:27):
Yeah, that was it. Could have been a very different
TikTok channel.
Alex Legouix (09:35):
So tell me more about this area and where we
are going next.
Poppy O'Toole (09:38):
Okay. So I was working in a care home in Alvechurch,
which is just not far from where my grandparents used
to live, but they passed away at this point, but
it wasn't both, it's just literally on the same road, and I was working in
a pub as well. So I think we are en
route to the care home.
Alex Legouix (09:59):
How old were you when you were here?
Poppy O'Toole (10:02):
I must have been about 16, maybe, and I was here for about a
year or so, and I cried when I handed in
my resignation.
Alex Legouix (10:11):
Oh, really?
Poppy O'Toole (10:12):
Because I hate letting people down and I was like, "
I'm so sorry I've let you down." But this was
just mad, I used to run home from school. Well,
not even run home, I'd have a bag in the car,
come straight here, do my shift here, always be late
here because I was having tea and watching The Chase, as kind of an
(10:33):
excuse and sit down, and then I'd go to my
second job, and that was every night.
Alex Legouix (10:38):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (10:38):
So that's what I mean, when I clocked out of school, I was like,
I'm not doing my work, I'm just going to go
to work and make money, and sit with old people and
drink tea, it was great.
Alex Legouix (10:46):
Aw, that's really nice. I really like what you said
about that realization as well that food brings people together,
and it's so true, isn't it?
Poppy O'Toole (10:57):
Yeah, absolutely. I always thought that, but when I was
here, it really made a difference. You can just see
the normality of it, of food. Everyone does it every
single day, but if you take some time whilst you're
eating to chat, or it can be something special and
(11:19):
it can make a massive difference. And that's where I
just realized that food was definitely my love language for anybody.
Alex Legouix (11:27):
Yeah. That's really nice.
Poppy O'Toole (11:30):
It's definitely something worth doing and I think if anyone is
looking to do something that makes them feel like a
good person, it's definitely getting in and looking after older people.
It's sad, but very, very fulfilling. That's why I loved having
conversations with them because they don't care who I was, it wasn't
(11:54):
a thing, they just wanted to tell me their story
and I was like, " Yeah, tell me. Absolutely, Gladys, go
for it." And we'd just get ... as well, a lot
of them did have dementia, so it would just be
wild random stories just going off on curveballs and be like, " Yeah,
go on. Yeah, tell me more. Then what happened?" And
(12:15):
it was just exciting for them as well, it was just really good fun.
And I make a mean cup of tea, so they
were always happy about that as well. One good thing
is that my partner is very good at remembering everything
so he can remember all the stories from when I
was there and stuff, and then has to remind me and I'm like, " Who? What?"
And he knows it all.
Alex Legouix (12:35):
You've been together for a while then?
Poppy O'Toole (12:37):
Yes, we've been together since school.
Alex Legouix (12:39):
No!
Poppy O'Toole (12:40):
Yeah, we met at high school and eventually got together
when we were 16.
Alex Legouix (12:50):
Oh my God.
Poppy O'Toole (12:50):
So we've been together for 13 years. Yeah.
Alex Legouix (12:53):
Oh, my word. I haven't done anything for 13 years.
That is a serious, committed... Wow.
Poppy O'Toole (13:03):
It's quite nice growing up together, because now we know
every single detail of everything that we've ever done, which
is lovely.
Alex Legouix (13:12):
Oh, that's so nice. Gosh. So he's really seen your
journey as well then?
Poppy O'Toole (13:18):
Yeah, It's been wild. Absolutely wild. And he's been a
big part of it as well in terms of helping
and pushing me to do it, because it was never
meant to be like. I never realized this was going
to be my life.
Alex Legouix (13:33):
Yeah, of course.
Poppy O'Toole (13:33):
It was working in kitchens, I'd worked my way up
to junior sous chef, and then because of the pandemic, lost
my job, like a lot of people. And he was
the one who was like, oh... My little brother and
sister definitely inspired me because they were constantly on TikTok, constantly
on social media. And I was like, " Oh, hello? Give
(13:56):
me attention. I'm cool too," so then I was like, "
Oh, I might have a go at this," and he
was like, " You should be doing... Yeah, go on, make
a recipe, do something." And then he pushed me in
the right direction with it a lot and eventually... Well,
he's much better at editing videos than me, so it
used to take me a very, very long time to edit a video
(14:16):
for my socials and now I'm like, " Babe?" He's on
that now for me-
Alex Legouix (14:23):
That's incredibly useful.
Poppy O'Toole (14:24):
Which is amazing. Very useful.
Alex Legouix (14:27):
We'll come into detail about your TikTok shortly, but we
are now in what looks like a very beautiful little village.
Poppy O'Toole (14:35):
Yeah, this is Barnt Green Village, this is Hewell Lane,
the high street. My first school was just down there
and I used to basically make my mum, very demanding
child, I used to be like, " Mum, I'm not going
to school unless you get me a Three Cooks ham
and coleslaw sandwich on the way to school."
Alex Legouix (14:55):
Oh, there it is. There's that ham and coleslaw.
Poppy O'Toole (14:57):
Yeah, that's where it came through. So it used to
be here, I think. Just there. Now I think it's a butchers, but
that used to be my obsession. I'd make contracts the
night before, going to school, I'd write them up, because
at one point I wanted to be a lawyer.
Alex Legouix (15:13):
Right, first of all, contracts saying what?
Poppy O'Toole (15:15):
Saying to my mum, I'd put her name in, her full
name, put my name in, will not be attending school
unless the certain rules are followed or something, I can't remember what
I used to put. A Three Cooks ham and coleslaw
sandwich. I used to demand a Red Bull.
Alex Legouix (15:35):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (15:36):
Yeah, wild. This is when I was seven. I was just
naughty, really naughty, and a Crunchie or something like that. It'd
be proper demanding of what I wanted. And then make
her sign it the night before, and then I think
she'd go, " Yeah, yeah. Go to bed." Because I'd be like, " I'm only
(15:57):
going to bed and going to school if you sign this."
So I used to do that and then make her
go through with it the next day and bring out
the contract saying, " You signed this last night." I must
have got her to do it at... You know when you're half
asleep? Be like, " Mum, sign this. I need it for
tomorrow," and then just not tell her what it was.
Or it would be a Maccies breakfast.
Alex Legouix (16:18):
Well, that's fair.
Poppy O'Toole (16:18):
Before school. I'd be like, " No, I'm going to go
and get my Double Sausage & Egg McMuffin, sweetie. Let's go."
Everything revolved around food. I just love eating food.
Alex Legouix (16:27):
Yeah. Okay.
Poppy O'Toole (16:27):
Love it.
Alex Legouix (16:27):
So we don't want to digress too much, but were you
always thinking about food and pleasures of food and what sort of things you wanted to eat and stuff?
Poppy O'Toole (16:34):
Yeah. It's always been my thing.
Alex Legouix (16:40):
You enjoyed eating it?
Poppy O'Toole (16:43):
I enjoy it. I used to go to school with, I
used to try and find the most different fruit I'd
ever seen. So pomegranate was a whole... It blew my
mind, pomegranate did, because I'd never seen anything like it.
So I'd go, I'd be like, " Mum, can I take
a pomegranate in?" She'd be like, " You sure you want
to take a whole pomegranate in school?" Yeah. So I'd
go in, purely to be like, " Guys, look at this
(17:04):
pomegranate." I love experiencing food and showing people food and stuff.
Alex Legouix (17:11):
Wow.
Poppy O'Toole (17:11):
So I'd be there, one by one individually picking out
pomegranates, and trying to feed my friends. And a lot
of them would be like, "Ugh, no," because it looks weird if you've never
seen it before. Yes, I used to do that, or
just dragon fruit, kumquats, physalis. I used to go random
stuff because I'd just find them in the supermarket and
be like, " I want to take this in school and eat it."
Alex Legouix (17:33):
Are you the chef each evening? Are you the one
that cooks?
Poppy O'Toole (17:37):
Yeah, but you know what? I'm really bad now. Because
I'm always cooking potatoes, a lot of the times, and
especially with some of the recipes that I do, they're
sometimes not full dishes in some ways, it can just
be the best roast potato or the best this. So
sometimes we end up just literally for dinner having a
(17:59):
bowl of mash or a bowl of roast potatoes.
Alex Legouix (18:06):
So where are we now?
Poppy O'Toole (18:08):
So now we are entering Bromsgrove, and this is where
I went to high school and this is the hub
of everything in my life, I suppose. We're going towards
my second job, which I was working at at the
same time as I was at the care home and used to run
to, literally, and be late to everything. I'm a very
(18:30):
late person in general, I'm not good at timekeeping, which
again, wouldn't be great for a lawyer. Also not great for a chef though.
Alex Legouix (18:36):
I was going to say, it's not ideal probably for a chef.
Poppy O'Toole (18:40):
But yeah, so we're going to a pub called The Queen's
Head, which I used to work at, and actually my partners
have worked there as well for a small time. And
I started off as a waitress, then I became bar
person, and then I eventually begged my way into the
kitchen. So getting into an actual kitchen was very exciting
(19:03):
for me to see, I suppose, again, it was to
see if I really wanted to do this. I loved
being front of house. I loved it.
Alex Legouix (19:13):
What was it like then to take that step up
to the kitchen in that sort of environment?
Poppy O'Toole (19:20):
Terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. I begged and pleaded and they were like, "
No." And then eventually, I took in a tart, I
made a salted caramel and chocolate and pecan tart.
Alex Legouix (19:36):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (19:36):
And I was like, " Try this and tell me I
shouldn't come and get into the kitchen," and they were like, "
All right, just shut up and get in the kitchen."
Alex Legouix (19:45):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (19:45):
So eventually I was allowed in, and then it just
went from there. So then it was very pub food,
it was scotch eggs, it was sandwiches, it was steak
baguettes, proper pub grub. Then one day they left me
to do the whole... I think the chef didn't turn
up or something, I did the whole service on my
(20:06):
own. It was the worst day of my life. It was hell.
I was 17 or 18, in a kitchen, which is getting ticket, it's
a sunny day, and I was like, " What am I
doing here? This is not fun." And I went down,
I went so down. It was taking half an hour
to an hour for people to get a sandwich because
(20:27):
it was just chaos.
Alex Legouix (20:28):
Oh, you poor thing.
Poppy O'Toole (20:29):
Oh, it was horrible. But really quite good fun at
the same time, I loved the thrill of it. But
I had to basically talk my way out of getting
fired. I was like, " You left me in a kitchen
with no help. What do you want me to do?" I was like, "
I'm not qualified to be doing this," and eventually then
(20:50):
they were fine with me, but I was like, " Oh, God." So
that's where I learned those skills. And the chefs did
look after me. They used to teach me stuff, and
I started looking at doing apprenticeships whilst I was there
and stuff, so that was it.
Alex Legouix (21:11):
So talk to me about TikTok. How did that come about?
Poppy O'Toole (21:15):
This is mad to think. So I was working in
London, obviously things were happening in 2020, and I remember
it being really scary and listening to the news and
all that sort of stuff. So I lost my job
and that was like, okay, fine, cool. Lost my job. It's
going to be all right. And then it was like,
(21:37):
and we're going into lockdowns and all this sort of stuff.
So I called my mum and I was like, " Mum,
please can you come and pick us up?" And we
went back and my little brother and sister were literally
just constantly on their phones and I was like, " What are you
doing? Why are you being so boring? Come and talk
to me." And I started literally watching what they were
(21:58):
watching. I was like, "Oh, this is addictive. This is really good fun,
actually," and it was all dances. And then one cooking one
came up and I was like, okay, it's interesting, you
can do cooking on here. I literally thought it was
just silly dances. And I wanted to have their attention
mainly and make them think that I was mildly cool
(22:19):
and knew what TikTok was. So we went into the
kitchen, I got my little sister to help me, we
made some churros, or is it a tomato sauce? I
can't remember which one we made first. And that was
it, that was where it all began, and people started
to enjoy it. I think I got one comment from
a key worker at the time just saying, " Thank you
for this recipe on this tomato sauce. It was a
(22:40):
lifesaver after a hard shift at work and the family loved
it." And I was like, whoa, another way to connect
with people through food and I don't even have to
be there. This is mad. So then that just carried
on and again, obviously not having anywhere to go or
(23:01):
work, I felt really helpless in the whole situation of
it, which I know a lot of people did. And
it was a very strange time, wasn't it? Looking back,
it's so bizarre. And so I just carried on cooking, just
cooking on there and just wanted to share some recipes.
And gradually, people started following. And it wasn't until I
(23:27):
did a few series, I did one of what a
chef eats in a day sort of thing, so I would then do
three recipes a day, a breakfast, a lunch, a dinner, and people
could then come and watch the recipe videos after. And
everything was going well, it was right. So I then
(23:47):
did a recipe video that was a potato, and it
was the first recipe video I had that got a
million views and I was like, right, okay, this is
huge. A million views. And then we went into a
second lockdown in the November of 2020 and I was
like, right, well, the one video that's done the best
(24:09):
I've ever done is potatoes, so let's just give the
people what they want. If they want to see some
spuds, I've got loads of recipes for potatoes. So I
did 25 days of potatoes and within... I started it
off with, I think I had about 75, 000 followers or
about 100,000 followers, and then a week in, I had 200,
(24:29):
000 followers. And I was like, wow, okay, people love
potatoes. And then I did, on day 20 or something, I did
a compilation video, put all the recipes in the background,
and I just spoke over it, and I remember doing the
voiceover a few times and I was speaking normally and I was like, it's really
(24:51):
boring, me just going, " Hiya, this is Potato TikTok," whatever.
So I was like, I'm going to do just a posh
voice, hang on. And I was like, " Tom, just leave
me alone. Let me just do this because it's embarrassing.
This is my drama GCSE D, it's coming out. I'm
going to do a voiceover." And I did a posh voiceover it and it
just worked. And I was like, yeah, that's quite funny actually. I like
(25:12):
that. And I went, " Hello, and welcome to Potato TikTok,"
and it just blew up, and overnight, I got a
million followers.
Alex Legouix (25:22):
What?
Poppy O'Toole (25:23):
From that one video. I'd seen a trend of people
making DanceTok or ComedyTok or something, so I just was like let's do PotatoTok, PotaTok, and make this little
corner of people to just fall in love with potatoes.
And that was it. And then I had five more
(25:45):
days of recipes to do and I was so scared.
I was like, " I've now got a million followers. These
recipes need to be really good. I don't know what I'm
going to do." Because nothing I ever do is planned.
I hadn't already thought through what recipes I was going
to do. I was just making them on the day and going, " Yeah, that works.
That's going to be a nice recipe." So it was
just from there. And luckily and thankfully, people have still
(26:09):
carried on following and enjoying the stuff, the content.
Alex Legouix (26:14):
Wow.
Poppy O'Toole (26:14):
And now I'm at four point something million followers on TikTok.
Alex Legouix (26:16):
All of that is a mental story.
Poppy O'Toole (26:20):
It's just, it's absolutely bizarre.
Alex Legouix (26:23):
Your very first TikTok potato dish, what was that?
Poppy O'Toole (26:28):
Ever, ever? It was crispy cubes of potato, and I
made dinner, I'd done it, I'd recorded my stuff for
the day, so I made a dinner for myself and
Tom and I'd done these crispy cubes of potato. He went, "
Did you record that? Because they're delicious." And I was like, "
No, I haven't yet," and he went, " Record it now.
(26:49):
Go and do that again." I was like, " Oh no,
I don't want to make the potatoes." He's like, " Just do it," he was like, "
People will love this." So I made them again. Again,
I have to give a lot of credit to Tom.
He knows what people want to see. And Tom was like, " You
need to record this," so I recorded them. And it's just
literally small cubes of potatoes, you par boil them, you
(27:09):
roast them off in the oven and then you just
coat them with a little bit of Parmesan and a
little bit of parsley, salt, pepper, bit of lemon if
you fancy, bit of garlic, just toss them all together
and that's it. So I recorded it and it was the first one to get a million.
Alex Legouix (27:23):
Amazing.
Poppy O'Toole (27:23):
And that's another way that I learned that, oh, I want
to show people even more things that would be incredible, which
seemed so simple.
Alex Legouix (27:34):
How do you cope with any negative comments or backlash?
Poppy O'Toole (27:39):
I had a point in the beginning because, like I said, I
don't criticism, so I try and make sure everything's right
constantly. And so when people started being like, " That's disgusting,"
I was like, " Ah, this is the worst time," and
I couldn't quite separate the two things. So it was
(28:03):
like, well, and at some points I'd be like, " I don't want
to post this. I don't want to do this. I
don't want to do this." But I then had a
flick of a switch, I suppose, where I was like, people
are only criticizing the food, doesn't matter. If someone doesn't
like something, that's fine. Yes, it's annoying that they think
that they can say quite horrible things about it, but
(28:27):
that's on them. Let them do their own thing. And
a lot of the time I do come back as well and be like, "
Did you try it? Have you tried it? Did you
do the recipe and it didn't work? No." It's fine.
You don't need to say that, yes, you don't like
this certain thing, fine. But I now get to a point
where I don't always read all of the comments.
Alex Legouix (28:48):
I was going to ask that.
Poppy O'Toole (28:50):
Because there's been a lot of, you get the body
shaming stuff, and I never thought I'd be in a position
where I was going to be a chef on social
media, but I definitely never thought I was going to
be in a position where I was going to have
to be an advocate for body positivity.
Alex Legouix (29:08):
So what do I do with this, I guess, almost
role model position that I find myself in? What do I
do with this body positivity? How do I feel about
it myself? Let alone how am I meant to-
Poppy O'Toole (29:22):
Yeah, exactly.
Alex Legouix (29:22):
Pass on messages?
Poppy O'Toole (29:24):
So I just would never be able to stand there
and go, " Well, yeah, call me fat. Fine." No, shut
up. You don't get to call anybody any horrible names.
So get over it. And also, yeah, I'm a bit
bigger, but fine. Who cares? I eat potatoes all day,
what do you expect? I eat roast potatoes for dinner. But
(29:48):
it's never been something that's really bothered me. But I
remember the first few times I was like, oh, I
had my finger on the post button and it's me in
a bikini, I'm like, oh, it's a weird position because
I don't care, I don't mind if people are looking
at it, but I've never put it out there for
anyone to look at and then judge me on and
it's like, oh. And I had a few minutes where I was like, no,
(30:11):
yes, no, yes. I was like, oh, my mum's friends. No. Yes. Oh,
just go. Just do it.
Alex Legouix (30:17):
Yeah, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (30:17):
Just do it because it might help somebody else who
thinks that way about themselves, and they should never think that.
Alex Legouix (30:29):
You talk about the comments and stuff on TikTok. For
some reason, I suddenly just thought about the fact that
in any other walk of life where, like if you
work in TV or radio or any of those things,
you have a support network and there would be someone
that helps you. In certain TV shows, there'd be a
(30:52):
team of people that would help the stars with their
mental health, dealing with things like that. There's no support,
is there, in the world that you are in?
Poppy O'Toole (31:04):
No, not really. I'm really lucky, I've got obviously my
partner and family and everything who are all... And also
I've always just been a cocky, confident idiot half the
time, which that's part of what's happened. But I did
actually eventually go and get therapy.
Alex Legouix (31:24):
Oh, did you?
Poppy O'Toole (31:24):
Yeah, because it slipped from affecting just being like, oh
no, that comment was horrible, to me being in a
bad mood, or me not being confident to do anything.
So I was like, let's just do a little bit
of work and see if it helps. And it did help, it just helped being like,
oh, I can't control that, that's one thing I can't
(31:49):
control is what people have to say. And that was
really good, really good for me. And then also just
being able to control how much I invest into the
people who are commenting as well and be like... The
whole thing for therapy and the one big thing that I
took away from it, I basically also got dumped by
(32:12):
my therapist as well, because I wouldn't turn up on
time and I couldn't commit constantly, because things would... With
this mad, weird, busy lifestyle that I have, I'd have
to, at the drop of a hat, be like, " I'm so
sorry, a job's come in, I can't be there," and
eventually she was like, " I think come back when you've
(32:33):
got more of a routine that you can actually be there," and I was like, "
Okay, valid. Sorry sweet." But the one thing, the main
thing that I took away from it, is you cannot change
anybody, the only thing is you can change your outlook
or your perception of what's happening. But there isn't any
(32:55):
support for anyone in social media, especially, I feel terribly
sorry for the younger people as well because, yes, I'm
young in a sense, I'm 29, but I have got
my partner who I've been with for years, I've got
all my friends from when I was younger, I've had
(33:16):
many jobs, I've had loads of different life experiences. These
almost children get into this and have a huge platform
instantly and it's like that, I couldn't deal with it
when it happened to me, it was mad. So to
be a teenager doing it, oh, it must be terrifying.
Alex Legouix (33:37):
That growth over such a short space of time.
Poppy O'Toole (33:40):
And back in my day when we just had Facebook,
not everyone was documenting every single thing that they were
doing, or not everybody could see everything that you were doing.
So it's a scary place, I think, for some people,
especially for the younger generations, and I do hope there's something
(34:02):
that can be put in place to... Trying to get
rid of trolls and stuff like that, there needs to
be something a bit stronger that is in place to
help people. Because you can't just go around, and most
people wouldn't go around normally in the street going, " Ugh,
you are absolutely disgusting. You should die." People don't say
(34:22):
that. And it's like, why do you think, just because
it's not face to face, you can?
Alex Legouix (34:29):
Yeah, it's incredible, isn't it?
Poppy O'Toole (34:29):
Bizarre.
Alex Legouix (34:35):
Tell me about Junior MasterChef.
Poppy O'Toole (34:38):
Oh, Junior MasterChef is so good. So we had the
first season, was in January this year, and it was
amazing. It's basically MasterChef, but cool because I'm on it.
It's the most uncool thing anyone could ever say. But
(34:59):
it's for 18 to 24 year olds, so they could go on the
normal MasterChef, but this one, the tasks and the challenges
fit that generation. We're making delicious pizzas, we're doing social
media challenges, and all of the cooks on there are
(35:20):
doing social media bits as well, a lot of the them
were already experimenting in it, because this is a whole new
world where people can have a very successful career in
cooking without having to go and be 70 hours a
week in the kitchen. And who wouldn't want that? Especially
if it's your passion and you love food, I'm all
(35:42):
for it.
Alex Legouix (35:43):
What qualities do you look for in a young chef?
Poppy O'Toole (35:48):
Willingness to learn is a big one, I think you
have to be, in a chef. Because a lot of
the time you go into it and think you know
what you're doing, and then someone will show you there's
a better way or something, and you have to be
able to adapt and take that on board. Just, really cliche, a
passion for food or just to enjoy it or to
(36:09):
just show me that you know what you are trying
to get to, even if something doesn't work. Making mistakes
and stuff, they're going to happen, but there's that wanting
to be perfect almost, I suppose. And some energy. You
need spark to be a good cook. You need to
be ready to change everything up at the blink of an eye.
(36:33):
You've got to be a problem solver, especially as a
chef. Problems are always happening and you've got to be
able to do it so quickly that no one gets
told off. So anyone who can go from a disaster
to just something that's edible is good enough for me,
I'm happy with it. And then also just knowing flavors
and seasonings. It's one thing to give me a dish
(36:59):
that's got a mild mistake in, but if you under
season, that's the real big one, that's the problem.
Alex Legouix (37:11):
Okay, so this is Bilston Market, is that what it's called?
Poppy O'Toole (37:16):
Yes. Beautiful Bilston Market. This place is a huge part
of my childhood.
Alex Legouix (37:25):
Oh, wow.
Poppy O'Toole (37:26):
It's like a proper-
Alex Legouix (37:26):
That's proper old school.
Poppy O'Toole (37:28):
Yes. This is where I used to get my shoes,
my clothes, my tomatoes, and my pork baps. This was
the place to be. And we'd always get a parking
fine, because my nan literally used to park in here,
or on these double yellows, and she'd be like, " We're only running in
for a second," and we'd be there for hours. It's
the best. It's so good. I loved it here. It used to
(37:50):
have the best tomatoes I've ever had in my life.
And so my nan used to come in, so her family are
all from Dudley, so we would come up and on
a Thursday was when the fruit and veg market was
here, I think. So my nan would actually get me
out of school and me, my nan and my mum would
come here, come and get her mum, so my great-
(38:11):
grandmother, and we'd all come to Bilston Market. So it was four
generations all coming to Bilston Market and it was amazing.
Alex Legouix (38:18):
Gosh, so your nan was actually also quite pivotal in
getting you into-
Poppy O'Toole (38:22):
Huge.
Alex Legouix (38:23):
This world?
Poppy O'Toole (38:23):
She was a big cook. My uncle would be over
on Sunday, me and my mum would be there, and
it would be a big thing to have a Sunday
roast. And every night there'd be something new, she'd be
getting out Delia's books and starting to do something. So
she was always cooking and there was always something on
the stove. We'd go down the lanes, we'd go just
(38:47):
foraging for stuff and make jams. So she really got me
into the kitchen. So I'd be chopping or peeling or
cooking or baking constantly, just to do something. Do you
want some snacks?
Alex Legouix (39:00):
Yes.
Poppy O'Toole (39:01):
Okay, cool. I do as well. Okay, right.
Alex Legouix (39:03):
Well, it's a good time because we can eat our
snacks as we finish our episode.
Poppy O'Toole (39:08):
Would you like a crisp sandwich?
Alex Legouix (39:11):
Yes, please.
Poppy O'Toole (39:12):
Okay, cool. I've got salt and vinegar as well.
Alex Legouix (39:15):
Oh, amazing. Yes.
Poppy O'Toole (39:15):
My bread's got a bit squashed.
Alex Legouix (39:16):
That's fine.
Poppy O'Toole (39:17):
But it's going to be fine. So there's some crisp
for you.
Alex Legouix (39:19):
Thank you.
Poppy O'Toole (39:20):
Crush them up as you want. I don't know how
you want your crisp sandwich.
Alex Legouix (39:22):
Okay. Well, that's not something I've had for about 20 years, at least.
Poppy O'Toole (39:26):
Really?
Alex Legouix (39:27):
Yeah.
Poppy O'Toole (39:27):
Oh, we're going to be living the dream today then.
This is going to be amazing. So I've got my best
buttered bread, and I thought just a half, I think, for today would be...
Alex Legouix (39:38):
Yeah. Okay.
Poppy O'Toole (39:39):
So this is all buttered up. This is the kind
of thing that I bring when I go on road trips
because I'm obsessed with eating. So you got to do... Oh my God,
what are these? Ah, I brought the wrong crisps. Ah, they're baked.
Alex Legouix (39:58):
Whoa.
Poppy O'Toole (39:58):
No.
Alex Legouix (39:59):
Have you though? Or is that what... That might be
what our producer put in.
Poppy O'Toole (40:04):
No, this is fully me.
Alex Legouix (40:05):
This is what you did?
Poppy O'Toole (40:06):
Oh, no. I went to the supermarket and I just picked
the one that was green instead of looking at the actual
label. Well, let's try it. Let's see. Baked. Oh, no.
I don't know how I feel about this. There's not many as well. Bloody hell. No
wonder they have the healthy version, they only give you about
five crisps to eat, isn't it? This is rubbish. We'll
(40:29):
see. We'll see what it's like.
Alex Legouix (40:32):
Okay.
Poppy O'Toole (40:33):
And then you can squash it. You've got to get the...
Alex Legouix (40:37):
Yeah. Okay. I understand that. There's something about humans loving the
crunch, isn't there?
Poppy O'Toole (40:43):
I'm distraught.
Alex Legouix (40:43):
And so before we start eating, I've really enjoyed learning
more about your world and your life.
Poppy O'Toole (40:51):
Thank you.
Alex Legouix (40:52):
How has it been for you?
Poppy O'Toole (40:54):
I have thoroughly enjoyed it. It's been lovely to see
some of the places that... You know when you go
past places and sometimes you do it every day? Like
going around like Barnt Green and Alvechurch, I do that
mildly regularly because my family still live there. But then
going through and actually thinking about the things that happened
in those places, oh, it's so cute. It's so cute and
(41:15):
it's so like... Oh my God, why am I literally tearing
up a little bit? But it's just cute to look at
where things are, you know what I mean? And have a little
bit of history behind them.
Alex Legouix (41:25):
What do you think has made you emotional?
Poppy O'Toole (41:29):
I think it's just looking back and actually thinking about
what... I never realized how much... Oh my God. Stop. This
is ridiculous.
Alex Legouix (41:42):
Take your time.
Poppy O'Toole (41:44):
How much food and people and how the things I
did when I was younger, I'd never really looked at them
to be an influence, I suppose, but they are, and
that's weird.
Alex Legouix (41:56):
And you've told some really compassionate stories about people who
obviously mean an awful lot to you and they've really
molded who you are today.
Poppy O'Toole (42:08):
Yeah, absolutely. I think that's what it is. Especially talking
about my grandparents as well, because my nan was a really
big influence. Very lovely. And she enjoyed a crisp sandwich as
well. Just looking at all of this is sweet. And then being
here as well, literally, being in Bilston Market, eating a
crisp sandwich. It's just lovely to think about it. And
(42:30):
I think she'd be very shocked at what's happened, all
because she used to do a good Sunday roast. Anyway,
here's the crunch. It's still quite good actually.
Alex Legouix (42:44):
It is really good.
Poppy O'Toole (42:48):
Okay, I take it back. The baked crisps work.
Alex Legouix (42:51):
Thank you. Thanks so much to Poppy O'Toole for giving me such
a great insight into her life. You can see exclusive
footage of the drive by heading to the Autotrader socials.
Look at the episode page for links. You'll also be
able to see the Smart car that we drove around
in and be in for a chance of actually winning
(43:14):
it. Check out @AutotraderUK on Instagram to find out how to win
the car. And if you are looking for a new
vehicle, you can find your perfect match at autotrader. co.
uk. This is a new show and I'd love you
to follow on your favorite podcast platform. Like what you
hear? Rate and review, and make sure you tell your
(43:36):
friends so you don't miss an episode. Show On The
Road is a Fresh Air Production for Autotrader.
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