Every Wednesday turn the dial to (or stream online)  WWNO 89.9 FM for the debut of Louisiana Eats! with Poppy Tooker.  In Louisiana Eats!, Poppy, a classically trained chef and self-styled culinary activist, displays the same passion for local foodways that she brought to her award-winning Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook.  The weekly thirty-minute radio program about our local food, the people who cook it, and the people who love to eat it will air on Wednesday nights from 6:30 p. m. ’til 7:00 p. m., and will be repeated on Saturdays from 12:00 p. m. ’til 12:30 p. m., following The Splendid Table.

Tooker is a New Orleans gem.  A native of the Crescent City, she has a rich career in the food arts.  In addition to hosting her new radio program, Tooker is also host and producer of Eat It to Save It!, a television program which can be viewed on her website.  She has also written articles for magazines such as Hallmark Magazine and Louisiana Cookin’.

In 1999 Poppy brought the international Slow Food movement to New Orleans as the founder of its local chapter.  With her motto “Eat It To Save It!” Slow Food has been a perfect philosophical fit, and Poppy has been instrumental in the Slow Foods work reviving endangered local foods such as Creole cream cheese and rice calas.  She has served as an international governor with the movement and currently heads the US Slow Food Ark and Presidia committee.  Poppy was awarded the first “Carlo Petrini Slow Food Leadership Award” in 2006.

Poppy’s on-camera flair has been viewed internationally in documentary projects such as Savouring the World, Taste of New Zealand and Simple Living.  The History Channel enlisted her whimsical culinary approach for the Holiday Foods episode of “America Eats” and she regularly contributes colorful food commentary on WYES, the New Orleans PBS affiliate’s weekly show Steppin’ Out.  She has been featured on the syndicated Smart Woman show, and her food recovery efforts were the subject of an August 2007 Weather Channel special.  Chef Daniel Boulud invited Poppy to be a featured guest on Dining After Hours in spring 2008.  Even Bobby Flay could not resist a Throwdown with Poppy in which her famous seafood gumbo proved unbeatable on the popular Food Network show.

Poppy is one you don’t want to miss.  She serves local culture on the radio dial weekly.