Bermudian Laura Dakin has been hand picked to become the personal vegan chef to an international rock star.

Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis hired Sea Shepherd Conservation Society volunteer Laura to cook for him and his young family after meeting her at the charity's 30th anniversary benefit party in Los Angeles.

Mr. Kiedis told The Royal Gazette: "I asked Laura to come cook for me because only days after I had decided to eat a vegan diet, I saw her win an award for Sea Shepherd's Crew Member of the Year.

"That, combined with the fact that she was too humble to actually go on stage and make an acceptance speech, made her a very attractive candidate."

Although the 45-year-old musician only became a vegan last year, he has followed a vegetarian diet since the 1980s.

The decision to become animal-free was in part due to advice from his baby son's doctor - who recommended a vegan diet for Everly Bear - his child with girlfriend Heather Christie.

The star said: "I turned my first conscious dietary corner in the late Eighties.

"My girlfriend at that time was vegetarian and I began eating what I called vegequarian (veg and fish).

"Cut to 2007, and it was clear that the seas are being overfished to the point of destructive imbalance.

"That reality, combined with my newborn baby's doctor suggesting a vegan diet for the baby, inspired me to consider a change to vegan.

"Soon after I made the shift I saw some documentary footage of what happens in the factory farming of cows and I realised that this horrific way of brutalising animals was just not a good thing for the world. It sealed the deal."

Laura, 24, from Spanish Point, is his first vegan chef. "I have been lucky enough to experience a few great personal chefs along the way. Laura was the first who is truly vegan," said the singer-songwriter.

"She is smart, creative and dedicated in the kitchen. The results are several mouth-watering meals every day. I have never eaten as well in my life as I did when Laura was cooking in my house. The girl can cook."

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have been long-time supporters of SSCS, which defends marine wildlife around the world from whalers, shark-finning, and seal hunters. Founder and President, Paul Watson, says the organisation operates under the United Nations World Charter for Nature and aims "to enforce international law to protect marine life and animals from harm".

Kiedis said: "My band fell into an amazing opportunity to support the Sea Shepherds sometime around 1988. We played a small benefit concert at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip opening for the seminal Los Angeles group X.

"It has always been an honour and a pleasure to be around such inspiring and giving people as Paul Watson (SSCS President) and his crew. Their basic philosophy is borrowed from the teachings of Gandhi. Gandhi would have loved the life of a whale-saving pirate."

It is three years since Laura left her life in Bermuda behind to become a volunteer on the SSCS flagship, the Farley Mowat. She is now chief cook but admits it has involved "a lot of trial and error", as on signing up she was a culinary novice.

"I really did start off cooking with no idea how to even successfully scramble some tofu, but as time went on - and with a lot of help from honest crew - I just learned bits and pieces and became more and more experienced," she said.

Laura said that being voted SSCS Crew Member of the Year was "very unexpected" - as was the chance to become Kiedis'personal chef.

"Anthony Kiedis came up to me after I left the stage and asked if I wanted to work for him. I said 'No, I already have a job but thank you very much'. My friend nudged me in the ribs and said to Anthony that I was a little shocked after going on stage but I would love to have his contact in case I changed my mind.

"After he had left she looked at me and said 'Do you know who that was!'. 'I said no, who is it?'. Well I did change my mind and contacted him soon after.

"Actually the Red Hot Chili Peppers were the first band I managed to save up enough pocket money to see live. I am definitely a fan. It is beautiful music and a total pleasure to listen to. It clearly comes from a deep place within the artists, and it is rare that you ever meet someone who is not inspired by the band's songs."

After cooking for Kiedis at his LA home in November she has spent the past couple of months looking after the Farley Mowat as it winters in Dockyard. Next week the SSCS crew departs on their next campaign, heading to Canada's ice floes to protest the annual seal hunt, after which Laura will return to LA.

Living in the guest bedroom of a rock star's beachfront Malibu home is certainly a world away from the cramped living quarters of shiplife. Laura said: "It is wicked to cook in such a lovely kitchen that doesn't move quite so much as the Farley galley! Oh and to use sharp knives for a change! I also am pretty limited with what ingredients I use on the ship so it was most definitely lovely to be able to use what I wanted instead of just what we get donated.

"The place is beautiful, very calm, all totally laid-back and chilled. Anthony is lovely - the whole family is."

Laura is now asking the people of Bermuda to help in the SSCS's next campaign through donations of vegan foods, linens and other items. Anyone who would like to help should contact the crew on 799 0019.

For more information on SSCS log onto: www.seashepherd. org

See tomorrow's Royal Gazette to read all about Laura's adventures at sea and her life as Anthony Kiedis's chef.