Vanja van der Leeden, a Dutch-Indonesian chef and culinary writer, combines her rich cultural background with her experiences living in Italy. Formerly a restaurant chef, Vanja now focuses on creating nutritious comfort food, writing cookbooks, and producing cooking videos from her home kitchen. Her work reflects her love for strong flavors, culinary experimentation, and the balance between healthy eating and indulgence

"The best cookbooks take the reader on a nuanced culinary journey. Italopunk does this in the best possible way, convincing foodies to follow a culinary road map from top to toe of Italy. The Dutch Indonesian chef and writer van der Leeden “punks” up traditional Italian with offbeat additions—a touch of coffee grounds and slices of taleggio finish off a white asparagus and porcini risotto, while lemongrass and lime leaf infuse an Indonesian-inspired caponata. Nearly 150 recipes cover snacks, creamy primi (pasta, pizza, polenta), and more, with a focus on fresh vegetables and seafood. Inviting recipes are sprinkled with anecdotes from the author’s twenties and years as a food writer. Most interesting are her interviews with thirty- and fortysomething cutting-edge “punk” Italian chefs with mixed backgrounds, who talk of their focus on changing the nature of Italian cooking to meet the shifting social, economic, and climate dynamics that affect the planet. Her husband’s inviting photography brings their stories to light, making this a necessary addition to all Italophile bookshelves. Pasta, fresh seafood, burrata, and carefully cured meats aren’t going anywhere, and any reader can browse this for an inviting new take on recognizable classics—but those who want to go deeper will get a look at where Italian cooking is headed."