Cerys Matthews

Song-loving cook or food-loving musician? Either way, Cerys Matthews has been experimenting with music and food ever since she can remember. From foraging and chewing on knotweed to cooking flapjacks and nettle soup as a young child, her inerest in this planet's edibles has never waned. A life of touring guaranteed further culinary exploration: thousand-hole pancakes, amlou, roasted artichokes, vermouth with anchovy-filled green olives, death by chocolate, za'atar sprinkled on fresh tomatoes, hot baked soda bread, pineapple with chilli, crispy sage leaves and vegan haggis are just a few of the recipes Cerys shares in this book.

Her festival,The Good Life Experience, celebrates outdoor cooking. Bill Granger, River Cottage's Gill Meller, Signe Johansen, Thomasina Miers , Anna Jones and Petershams Nursery's Damian Clisby are just some of the chefs invited each year to cook on flames and charcoal.

Cerys is the author of the Sunday Times bestseller Hook Line and Singer and children's books Tales from the Deep and Gelert. She is vice-president for both Shelter and the Hay Festival, and recipient of a St David Award for Culture and an MBE.

Cerys cooks daily and lives in West London.