How to Make Your Own Vegan Italian Food

Learning to cook your own food is empowering, as you no longer have to rely on expensive plastic-wrapped ready-meals and takeaways. Master your favourite cuisines at home. Then every night is restaurant night!

Cooking with Nonna is a fun and unique book to make the best Italian home cooking. Giuseppe is a second-generation British Italian where food and family have always been intertwined.

Read up on food safety for people and pets. Bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallots, chives) and tomato/citrus/rhubarb scraps (acids may harm compost creatures).

Fully remove tinned lids (or pop ring-pulls back over holes) before recycling, to avoid wildlife getting trapped.

So when Giuseppe went vegan, he needed to find a way to cook the flavours of his family. There was only one person who could help; his nonna! Together they learned how to make the authentic Italian and Sicilian dishes that Nonna grew up with, using all plants.

Recipes include:

Classic Lasagne with Homemade Mince
Arancini (croquettes) Della Nonna!
The Perfect Tomato Sauce
Pasta Aglio Olio & Peperconico
Homemade Focaccia
Tiramisu
Coffee Granita
Biscotti

Giuseppe Federici comes from a long line of passionate foodies, and only at 15 did he realise that a British roast dinner did not begin with a full plate of pasta!

He has a huge fanbase of 440K Instagram followers and 300K on TikTok, and has hosted supper clubs and been crowned Digital Creator of the Year at Fortnum & Mason food and drinks awards.

A Lemon Pasta Recipe (like the Italians eat!)

This lemon pasta recipe (The Simple Veganista) is akin more to how Italians eat pasta (as a first course or main meal). They don’t pour a jar of watery tomato sauce over spaghetti.

Just fry fresh garlic and dried red pepper flakes in vegan butter or olive oil. While your plastic-free pasta is cooking, squeeze and zest your lemons, then toss the pasta in the flavoured oil, zest and season with fresh parsley, sea salt and freshly-ground pepper.

Serve with plant-based Parmesan (conventional Parmesan is not even vegetarian, as it contains a cheese that by law, contains calf rennet).

Most of us buy a few lemons now and then. Although not local, if you buy more than a few at a time, here are some simple recipes to use up the ones leftover. Lemons are a source of food waste in England, as many suppliers reject green-skinned and large lemons, even if they are perfect okay inside.

Easy Vegan Espresso Cake (and tiramisu!)

This espresso coffee cake (Rainbow Nourishments) is easy to make. You only need a few affordable ingredients including plant milk and yoghurt (to balance the acidity of the coffee granules). You don’t even need cider vinegar, as the coffee does all the work for you!

Avoid caffeine for pregnancy/nursing.

Try this Easy Vegan Tiramisu (Rainbow Nourishments). Unlike most recipes, there’s no faffing about buying or making sponge fingers, you just need 5 ingredients (no cashews, coconut oil or vegan cream cheese needed). And it’s ready in 20 minutes!

Tiramisu is Italian for ‘pick-me-up’, due to containing chocolate and coffee (lots of caffeine!) Unlike England (where tiramisu is sold in plastic pots), in Italy people make it themselves. A few tries and you’ll have this recipe down pat!