Artist having meal wants edible root (6)
I believe the answer is:
radish
'edible root' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'artist having meal' is the wordplay.
'artist' becomes 'RA' (Royal Academician, member of Royal Academy of Arts).
'having' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'meal' becomes 'dish' (I've seen this in other clues).
'ra'+'dish'='RADISH'
'wants' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for radish that I've seen before include "Pungent, red salad vegetable" , "Bit of salad" , "Pungent fleshy edible root eaten in salads" , "Hard vegetable" , "Small red salad vegetable" .)