When Tara Punzone finally sat down to write her first cookbook, she realized it wasn’t the food that intimidated her. It was the focus. “Every time I sat down to write five sentences, anything in that moment became more important or more interesting to me,” she said, laughing. “My house has never been so clean. I was feeding squirrels. Anything.”

That restless energy—equal parts humor and honesty—is what makes Punzone’s cooking, and her story, so compelling. The chef and owner of Pura Vita, one of Los Angeles’s most beloved vegan Italian restaurants, has spent years proving that compassion and comfort food can share a table. Her new cookbook brings that same spirit home, translating her signature dishes into accessible, family-friendly recipes that don’t rely on expensive or obscure ingredients.

“It took me three years while running two restaurants,” she said. “Writing the book was one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done in my entire career. I think it was more difficult than opening the first restaurant.”

Heritage Meets Conviction

Punzone’s vegan journey began when she was ten years old, after a teacher showed her class a slaughterhouse video. “I just wanted nothing to do with it,” she said. “I stopped eating meat that day.”

It wasn’t rebellion—it was revelation. Raised in a close-knit East Coast Italian American family, food was everything. And when she decided to go vegetarian, and eventually vegan, it wasn’t about rejecting her heritage. It was about reimagining it. “I never felt like it was necessary to give up my heritage just because I didn’t want to eat animals,” she said. “It was super important for me to figure out how to hold on to all of those traditions and my pride in being Italian American—and also not hurt animals. That was the big puzzle I needed to figure out.”