Potato stories .... the history .... the recipes ..... the facts .... on the wireless today

All of which is an introduction to today's BBC Radio 4 edition of the Food Programme .....  Potatoes with Poppy O'Toole.*

Potatoes .... potatoes .... potatoes, 2025

Its got the lot from a bit of history to recipes and food facts.

"In this episode, social media chef and queen of potatoes, Poppy O'Toole, explores the world of her favourite ingredient, the Potato.

Last year, Poppy appeared on Mastermind, choosing the history of the potato as her specialist subject. Let’s just say… it didn’t quite go to plan. So now, she’s joining the team at The Food Programme to fill in the gaps in her knowledge.

Potatoes, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, 2022

Along the way, she meets historian Professor Rebecca Earle from the University of Warwick, who explains how potatoes travelled from the Andes to Europe. She visits Lima, a Peruvian restaurant in London, where she speaks with sous chef William Coz about how potatoes remain central to Peruvian cuisine. Dr Stef de Haan from the International Potato Center shares how Peru continues to cultivate thousands of potato varieties.

In Suffolk, Poppy visits James Foskett’s farm to discover how he grows both organic and conventional potatoes. And she speaks with Dr Jean Beagle Ristaino—known by some as “the Sherlock of Spuds”—about her work investigating the pathogen behind the Irish Potato Famine.

The programme includes archive from Mastermind which is co-produced for BBC 2 by Hindsight and Hat Trick.

Presented by Poppy O'Toole"

Location, BBC Radio 4

Picture; Potatoes, 2025. from the collection of Andrew Simpson 

*Potatoes with Poppy O'Toole, The Food Programme BBC Radio 4, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f8vv