Potato is eaten cooked as a vegetable, boiled, baked (often jacketed), mashed or as chips (French fries). Potato is a frequent ingredient in soups, stews and pies. In Italian cuisine, gnocchi are made from potato. Potato is also eaten cold as a salad, possibly in coleslaw. Crisps (chips) are eaten as snacks. However, potato can found as a hidden allergen when dried cooked potato is used as a thickener or added to flour.

Potato is considered a rarely allergenic food and is frequently used in elimination diets and as part of the placebo in challenge protocols. However, more than 50 cases of food allergy after eating cooked potato have been reported and skin prick tests suggest that sensitization to raw potato is relatively common.  Cases of contact allergy to raw potatoes have also been reported.

The symptoms reported include reactions of the skin such as urticaria (hives), angioedema (wheals) and eczema, respiratory symptoms such as rhinitis, cough and wheezing and gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea. Most reactions occurred within 2 hours (immediate reactions) but delayed reactions have also been reported.

Allergy to cooked potato is related to tomato allergy and to latex allergy.  Sensitization to raw potato may also be related to pollen allergies.