Italian culture has had an enormous influence on the world, from artists such as Michelangelo and Caravaggio to creators such as Da Vinci and Marconi, from style icons such as Armani and Dolce & Gabbana to movie stars such as Sophia Loren and Rudolph Valentino, from Vespa to Ferrari and from Vivaldi to Verdi. But the greatest Italian culture is the food culture. It is the anchor that binds the people and their communities.

Food defines the Italian people. It comes as no surprise that the Slow Food movement was started in Italy, where ‘fast food’ does not exist – all food is to be savoured and enjoyed, especially in the company of friends and family.

There are many things that intrigue me about Italian food culture. How do they have time for all this food? Why do they have such strict rules and routine around food? With long, leisurely lunches, dishes of pasta richly coated in sauces, pizzas laden with mozzarella and glugs of olive oil, how is it that Italy is one of the slimmest nations in Europe? And most importantly, how can we enjoy these delicious recipes and savour some of la dolce vita here at home? That is what this book is about.

Let me tell you a story about Italian lifestyle and food. It’s a beautiful summer evening and I’m out shopping in our local town of Balestrate in Sicily. A new furniture shop has just opened up in the town square and I have a long look in the window. As I expected, the shop is beautifully laid out with all the elegance of Italian interior style. My eye catches a fabulous mahogany dining table and matching chairs, fully dressed with the best glassware and china.

Imagine my surprise when just after 8 p.m., when the shops close, I pass again and I stop in shock, as the table I had just admired was now fully complete with diners. The staff had locked the doors and sat down to enjoy this magnificent table by having a meal together in the shop window, totally oblivious to life beyond their own company and their enjoyment of their meal.

Then it dawned on me. This is Italy, where people live to eat, not eat to live. The more I considered this fact, the more clarity I got. I’d seen for myself that work stops when friends arrive – unplanned departures are made from offices in favour of the local coffee shop and work continues thereafter, until another friend or family member arrives. In other words, work fits around life and not life around work. And that’s logical, since offices open at around 8 a.m. and close at 8 p.m., so work has to fit around life. It’s frowned upon to talk business over lunch. Eating is about the company, the food, the laughter, chatter and sheer pleasure and should not be soured by discussions of work.

In order to eat like an Italian, we need to recondition ourselves to live like Italians. It might seem a little stressful to fit into our lifestyle of long commutes to and from work, college and kids. We all have such full days, but then, so do the Italians. As a family here in Wicklow, we make a point of sitting down and breaking bread together. It would be idyllic to do this every day, but realistically, we insist on four days together every week and include our extended family and friends in this too.

One thing I’ve learned is that work has to fit around life. I struggled for years trying to separate work from my life, but I constantly felt guilty about not spending enough time with my family. I realised that this was leading me nowhere and now I relax into work and prioritise life and it feels very empowering.

Locally sourced food is the backbone of Italian food. Recipes are regional too and it’s unusual for people to cook non-regional dishes, especially for family gatherings, otherwise there might be a grandmother or two who would pass comment!

In Balestrate, our local town, it’s not uncommon for the women to shop for ingredients twice per day – for lunch and for dinner. Now that really is the epitome of freshness! It’s also common for the farmers to drive through the towns in their three-wheeled scooter trucks laden with produce from their farms, shouting their arrival through the loudspeaker positioned atop the van. The ladies purchase from their balconies by lowering a basket on a rope to collect the fresh melons, tomatoes, oranges and lemons. Shopping is also a social occasion to meet other locals and a chance to get daily exercise. I understand that this probably isn’t an option for most of us, but buying local, fresh produce where possible and even growing your own in little pots or plots is something to aim for.

As you travel through Italy, you learn very quickly that everyone has a passion for food and also has a strong opinion about where the best recipe or ingredient can be sourced. A few years back, our car broke down near Pachino, which is the famous tomato-producing area of Italy. The Pachino tomatoes are cherry-like, sweet and irresistible. We had to get the car towed back to Catania airport and arrange a replacement, and it was a long three hours once the driver realised my interest in food! He spent the journey telling me that Pachino tomatoes weren’t the best in Italy, but that actually the ones from his village were. Next to come was his opinion on olive oil, oranges, grapes, lemons ... I couldn’t get a word in edgeways, which is unusual for me! But it is this passion and inquisitiveness about food that drives the Italians to create the best dishes. There is a lesson here.

Breakfast usually consists of a cappuccino and a brioche or bread with butter and/or some local jam. In Sicily in the summer, brioche and granita (a flavoured iced drink which might be coffee flavoured) is most common, as it is considered too hot to sip a cappuccino.

Lunch is the main meal of the day and is usually somewhere between 12 and 1 p.m. In fact, the restaurants stop serving at around 2.30 p.m., as people stick rigidly to mealtimes and demand outside of this is unheard of, unless by tourists.

A two-course lunch is most common midweek, but Sunday lunch is a major meal and involves the extended family. It’s customary for family members to bring a gift of a cooked dish and the preparations for sunday lunch commence the day before.

A typical meal would start with l’antipasto – perhaps olives, local cured meats, cheeses and bread.

This is followed by il primo, which is the pasta or rice course. Pasta servings are smaller than we might think, as there are still many more courses to follow.

Il secondo is the meat or fish course. As meat or fish might not be eaten every day, this is a special course. After this comes il contoro – the side dish. Contori are always vegetables in season and often salads. Secondi are usually eaten first, then contori. A side dish that I really enjoyed at Sunday lunch in the Fulvio household in Palermo was a simple raw fennel bulb, which was passed around the table and we each pulled a layer off and chewed it. It was so refreshing after the fish course. Then fresh fruit platters arrive – again, always whatever is in season, followed by dried nuts and fruits in the winter (dried figs and dates are especially delicious).

After that, coffee is made and il dolce – a cake from the local bakery – is produced. A pistachio and lemon sponge cake with a sweet ricotta filling was one of the most delicious I’ve ever had. And finally, out come the chocolates and the ammazzacaffè, which means ‘coffee-killer’, a liqueur, which could be anything from homemade nocino (walnut liqueur) to limoncello.

All of this is often followed by a promenade in one’s Sunday best clothes – a lovely gentle stroll through the town or countryside, meeting other locals along the way. After all, seven courses requires a stretching of the body, and it feels so much better after a large meal than collapsing on the sofa in front of the television! Exercise is simply integrated into the Italians’ day, whether it’s walking to school or the shops, promenading after a large lunch or dancing in the evening.

Dinner is at 8 p.m. and is really more like supper. It’s a much lighter meal, usually only one course, and might be made up of the leftovers from lunch.

Drinks with meals consist of wine and water, or maybe a beer with pizza. Children are allowed a soft drink (generally not milk, as that is deemed to affect the flavours of the food and digestion). We enjoy a similar routine to this for our family mealtimes, especially the large family gatherings on a Sunday. It’s a time to catch up and chat, and when I think about it, it’s not unlike the lifestyle of my parents and grandparents years ago – except I recall that my granddad always drank tea brimming with milk and sugar with his main course. I wonder what the Italians would think of that?

Recognised by UNESCO, the Mediterranean diet is arguably the healthiest diet in the world.

The inclusion of daily recommended amounts of olive oil, beans, nuts and legumes in the Mediterranean diet is in clear contrast to our diet, where we don’t include many of these. In Italy, red meat is eaten in smaller quantities, while fish is the more popular protein. Not surprisingly, the quantity of carbohydrates consumed in Italy on a daily basis exceeds ours. Wine, noted ‘in moderation’, is a recognised part of the diet.

The Mediterranean and Italian diet is characterised by a nutritional model (above), that comprises fresh seasonal ingredients, an abundance of cereals, fresh fruits and vegetables, generous amounts of olive oil, pulses and nuts and moderate amounts of fish and meats. UNESCO also recognised that this diet encompasses more than just food – it promotes social interaction, thereby giving full credit to the lifestyle. In my opinion, the Italian diet and approach to food is the solution to long-lasting health and happiness, so I have structured this book by each section of the food pyramid. Just try to eat a few more from the Vegetables and Salads chapter and a few less from the Sweets chapter!

It’s pretty realistic for everyone to embrace this lifestyle and food culture by enjoying our very own local, seasonally fresh produce, prioritising our mealtimes by making them routine and including our friends and family, taking daily exercise and a drink in moderation.

I hope you enjoy these recipes from Italy, then relax and savour the wonderful flavours of freshly prepared food while enjoying the company of others. It is the recipe for a good life.