Cettina Vicenzino: Cucina vegetariana

If you disregard seasonal trends (barbecuing, for example, if it were finally summer…), it’s mainly vegetarian and vegan cookbooks that have been topping almost all the rankings for some time now.

And that, of course, is precisely a reason to look a little more closely to see whether another rather generic or trend- and sales-driven product is hiding under the cover, or in fact an authentic book that tells its own story and shows a very unique perspective on vegetarian nutrition.

Fortunately, Cettina Vicenzino’s book absolutely falls into the latter category.

It was the little black pigs from Sicily that made Cettina stop eating meat, she tells us during our lunch together at Hamburg’s Koch Kontor. She herself lived in the Hanseatic city for many years before moving to southern Germany. Her family roots lie a little further south and have already been incorporated into her first book, Mamma Maria Family Recipes from Sicily.

Cucina vegetariana, her first vegetarian cookbook, was recently published. She is not only responsible for the concept and the recipes, but has taken all the photos, created the layout and many of the drawing in the book. As a reader, one senses this coherence. Rarely have I held a cookbook in my hands that has so much attention to detail and the visuals harmonize so well with the contents.

Apart from the two courses I was able to taste during the joint lunch at the Koch Kontor, I have already recreated several recipes from the book. By the way, I especially like the pasta with lemon sauce and pistachios. A perfect summer dish (though not as easy as you might first suspect).