麻豆社

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鈥檚 just say鈥� it didn鈥檛 quite go to plan. So now, she鈥檚 joining the team at The Food Programme to fill in the gaps in her knowledge.

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鈥檚 farm to discover how he grows both organic and conventional potatoes. And she speaks with Dr Jean Beagle Ristaino鈥攌nown by some as 鈥渢he Sherlock of Spuds鈥濃�攁bout her work investigating the pathogen behind the Irish Potato Famine.

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

Presented by Poppy O'Toole
Produced for 麻豆社 Audio in Bristol by Natalie Donovan