Vegetables the Italian Way: cover reveal & the story behind the book
The first look at our latest cookbook, and how the idea came to be (spoiler: thanks to your feedback!)
I can finally tell you more about the book we’ve been working on over the past year, and reveal its cover. If you’ve joined one of our cooking classes, you might have already cooked a few of its recipes without even knowing it. And if you’ve been reading this newsletter closely, you may have caught some of the hints we’ve been dropping, between cook-alongs and seasonal dishes.
And I’m so excited to share the news with you first—this incredible and supportive Substack community—before anywhere else. You made it possibile, after all.
So without further ado, let me spill all the beans…
Our new cookbook is called Vegetables the Italian Way: Turning Simple and Fresh into Extraordinary.
It’s a celebration of the way we cook, love, and live with vegetables in Italy: more than 70 seasonal recipes, arranged by technique — braising, frying, roasting, stuffing, and more — that elevate vegetables to the delicious heart of the meal.
It’s published by Artisan, and it will be available everywhere books are sold on April 14th, 2026.
You can preorder it now from your local bookstore and online wherever books are sold.
How this book came to be
From the enthusiastic feedback of our cooking class students, and listening to the needs and preferences of our online community, we noticed a pattern, a red thread that has always been present in the way we cook and in the way we feed our family and friends: everything revolves around seasonal vegetables.
That’s how we got the idea of a book focused on the way we cook vegetables in Italy. If seasonal vegetables are often the protagonists of our daily meals, of the Italian home cooking, this is not so straightforward when it comes to visiting restaurants and trattorias when you’re travelling through Italy.
Every time someone asked, “Where are the vegetables on Italian restaurant menus?”, or told me how much they loved that simple stewed green bean dish we made together, I felt we were touching something important.
I’m not vegetarian, and I’ve never followed a specific diet, but vegetables are at the heart of how we eat.
For me, cooking with vegetables is a way to stay grounded. It is the best way to stay connected with the passing of seasons, with nature’s rhythms, with what our bodies need at a particular time of the year. In late November, I find myself craving the sharp, pleasantly bitter bite of radicchio, dressed simply with a lemony vinaigrette. Come summer, I can’t wait for the first peppers to char on the grill, ready to be marinated with olive oil, garlic, and dried oregano.
Eating plenty of fruit and vegetables is not only fun, satisfying, and delicious. It is also the best choice for your health. Vegetables are the foundation of the Mediterranean diet, sitting right at the bottom of that famous pyramid, alongside whole grains and olive oil (so my devotion to olive oil has scientific backing, after all).
Making vegetables the centerpiece of my diet is also a sustainability choice. In the last few years, especially since becoming parents, I’ve become more and more aware of how food choices impact the environment: reducing meat consumption, eating more plants, shopping locally and seasonally… it all adds up. And it starts in the kitchen.
The way we eat and the way we care for the environment have changed.
Alongside the principles of cucina povera–the heart of our previous cookbook, rooted in simplicity, seasonality, and zero waste–that have always distinguished the Italian approach to food, there is an increasing need for a more sustainable way of eating. More and more, we feel the pull to make vegetables the true protagonists of our meals.
Why vegetables matter in the Italian kitchen
Italian regional cuisine is instead rich with vegetable dishes that nowadays often represent the soul of a region.
Yet when traveling through Italy and sitting down at a trattoria, vegetables often take a back seat on the menu: a lettuce salad, some tomatoes, a side of sautéed spinach, and that’s about it. The paradox? Just outside, the local markets are bursting with fresh, seasonal produce of every color and shape.
Cucina povera teaches us that vegetables have always been the backbone of everyday meals, long before it became a trend. Simplicity, seasonality, zero waste, and creativity: these principles created some of Italy’s most iconic dishes.
And this is how we love to cook at home, too.
When I plan my weekly menu, the first question is always: What is in season?
From there, everything else falls into place. That bunch of kale waiting in the fridge, the carrots needing attention, the pumpkin on the counter…once I decide how to cook the vegetables, the rest of the meal naturally builds around them.
Over the years, I’ve watched how this vegetable-forward approach can feel almost revolutionary to my cooking class students. Many discover a completely new way of understanding vegetables, the Italian way: simple, seasonal, generous, deeply satisfying.
We hope you’ll love it as much as we do. We can’t wait for you to cook from this book, bring its recipes to your table, and make vegetables shine, the Italian way.
You can preorder it now from your local bookstore and online wherever books are sold.
Stay tuned! A surprise is coming
In January, we’ll share a special surprise dedicated to anyone who preorders the book. More on that very soon…
Are you excited about this book? Which seasonal vegetables are you most curious to cook, the Italian way?
I can’t wait to read your thoughts.
Until next time,
Giulia
Beyond excited! You had me when you announced you were working on a new cookbook. Then you revealed that there would be a chapter on preserving. And now that you've explained how you build your menus--which is exactly how I build mine--I will definitely pre-order.
I just found you yesterday as I listened to your conversation with Domenica Marchetti (whom I love) and subscribed right away. Like you, I am not a vegetarian, but I love vegetables. I’m looking forward to all of the recipes, although I know we may have difficulty finding some (such as Treviso radicchio) in the US.