International cuisine is very popular, but it’s tastier and cheaper to make your own, than rely on supermarket ready-meals, which are often very inferior and made with chemicals, as well as being packed in plastic. If you can’t afford to eat out at a nice restaurant each night, then try making your own food.
Use vegan butters with no palm oil. Use a reusable silicone baking liner or unbleached parchment paper (in compostable packaging). Keep recipes (and fresh dough) away from pets, due to toxic ingredients.
Italian food is very regional, from bolognese (Bologna) and pizza (Naples) to rice and polenta in the north. It naturally lends itself to fresh veggies, you could use a local rapeseed oil instead of olive oil, to reduce food miles. The Vegan Pasta Cookbook offers 60 recipes including many that go beyond Italy to offer fusion foods like noodles! Recipes include:
- Tomato Basil Balsamic Bucatini
- Spaghetti & Vegan Meatballs
- Linguine al Limone with Toasted Pistachios
- Homemade Almond Parmesan
Vegan Italiano is a wonderful book, very basic but cheap and filled with affordable recipes (the book is by an Italian chef, translated into English. Recipes include:
- Crostini with Marinated Courgette
- Spaghetti with Wild Asparagus
- Cream of Pumpkin & Potato Soup with Chestnuts
- Cherry Strudel
Vegan Pasta Night offers plant-based versions of all your favourite recipes, by a talented chef who manages to recreate the foods she used to eat. With techniques for basic vegan meats and cheeses (Parmesan, Mozzarella, calamari), you then move onto recipes like:
- Cacio e pepi
- Sausage Ricotta Stuffed Shells
- Lasagne Bolognese
- Baked Rigatoni
- Pancetta Pea Linguines
- Sweet Pea Tarragon Alfredo
- Linguine with White Clam Sauce
- Ravioli al’Uovo
- Flavoured pasta doughs
A Book of Vegan Pizza Recipes
Purezza Vegan Pizza is by the founders of a successful chain of vegan pizzerias in England. After learning how to make your own wholemeal, sourdough or gluten-free crusts, recreate their famed dishes including:
- Butternut Squash & Cavolo Nero Pizza.
- Mushroom & Sausage Vegan Pizza
- San Marzano Tomato Pizza with Asparagus Sauce
- Beetroot Carpaccio
- Smoked Carrot Pancetta
- Funghi Trifolati
- Cashew Mozzarella
- Almond Gorgonzola
