BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts

Lauren LeVernier, Desert Island Discs is taking its usual Easter break for the next few

weeks, so to keep you going until we're back on air, we'll be showcasing a few programs

from our back catalogue. As usual, as this is a podcast, the music has been shortened

for rights reasons. This week, the cast away is Mary Berry, who was interviewed by Kirste

Young in 2012, and this is an extended version of the original broadcast.

My cast away this week is the cookery expert Mary Berry. She sold more books than most

of us have had hot dinners, and currently stars as a judge in that surprise TV smash

hit, The Great British Bake Off. She started out when there wasn't in her words an avocado

mango or kiwi in the country. Brought up in a household that grew its own fruit and veg,

and sent the family pig to slaughter. Now the undisputed queen of cakes, she says, the

idea of baking as therapy and an effective one might seem a little far-effect to some,

but not to me, explain that to me, Mary Berry, then, is it that it's sort of baking as

a shortcut to some sort of domestic contentment, do you think?

I enjoy baking. I do it as a total relaxation, and the wonderful thing about baking is you

have an audience who's going to say, oh, and are, and isn't that delicious, and can I

have another one? It's very rewarding. You've described baking as love on a place.

Exactly. Just love on a plate, because you are putting

yourself into it. I mean, the whole thing is to give it time, and not to do it in a rush

for the first time, and follow the recipe carefully, and with baking you do have to weigh the

ingredients. So often people say, oh, well, my grand was a great cook, but she never weighed

anything, but that grand often had a handleless cup and a particular spoon and a small selection

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