Check out our great vegetarian and vegan options at Giolitti Deli!
As more and more people adopt the vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, it’s important for restaurants to offer a wide variety of menu items. Unfortunately, there are only a few restaurants that serve vegan food in Annapolis, but Giolitti Deli takes the extra step to provide vegan options and alternatives. Continue reading to learn more about the vegan lifestyle and the many vegan-friendly options we serve at Giolitti Deli!
What Does It Mean To Be Vegan?
If you follow a vegan diet, you avoid eating foods of animal origin. This may seem simple, but you may be surprised as to which foods are actually vegan and which foods should be avoided. Of course, vegans do not eat meat or seafood of any kind, as well as dairy and eggs. But there are also many foods that contain animal-derived ingredients that you may not know about, including gelatin, natural flavorings, and even omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are essential nutrients that mainly come from fish, so vegans must find alternatives, such as omega-3s derived from algae.
Other foods that vegans should be careful of include bread products, beer and wine, candy, deep-fried foods, and refined sugar. These items do not always include animal ingredients, so it can be tricky to know if the food is truly vegan. It’s always important to look at the food labels and ingredients if you follow a vegan diet to ensure there are no animal products.
Giolitti Deli’s Vegan Options
At Giolitti Deli, we serve meals with meat and seafood, but are also proud to serve vegetarian and vegan food items. Vegetarian items are easy to spot, as you only have to look for meat products. It can sometimes be difficult to know if a menu item is vegan, but at Giolitti Deli, we want to make it as easy as possible for our vegan customers.
Our breads and roasted and marinated vegetables are all vegan, and our marinara sauce has no animal products. As a fine Italian market, we offer a wide variety of pasta, and many of our pastas can be made vegan upon request with no eggs or dairy products. At Giolitti, we even offer catering services that can customize vegetarian and vegan clients to ensure everyone is happy with their meal!
Vegan Recipe: Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta
Make your own simple vegan pasta by following our recipe:
- Choose large heads of hard-neck, organic garlic. To roast, slice off the top each head of garlic to expose the cloves inside and place the heads on a piece of foil. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Wrap in foil and roast in 375-degree oven for one hour.
- When the garlic is roasted, cut a pint of cherry grape tomatoes in half. Chop fine ½ of a small red onion. Heat ¼ cup of olive oil in a saute pan. Add the red onion and tomatoes and saute quickly, just until they start to lightly brown. Remove from heat.
- Cook ½ lb of your favorite pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water and add a head of roasted garlic, mashed (squeeze the cloves out of the skin) into the pasta water. Toss the pasta with the onion/tomato mixture and add the pasta/garlic water to the pasta to make the sauce. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and garnish with chopped fresh basil.
Authentic Italian Cuisine From Giolitti Deli
Giolitti Deli is a full-service Delicatessen in Annapolis, MD, specializing in authentic Italian cuisine. Founded in 1992, we use the freshest ingredients to make time-honed recipes from scratch, with no MSG or preservatives. We believe in real food and offer many healthy options, including vegetarian and vegan menu items. At Giolitti Deli, we make our own sauces, mozzarella, grilled and roasted vegetables, bread, pizza dough, and desserts, and our sandwiches, salads, pasta, pizza, and entrees are made to order. Owner Mary Giolitti has combined her passion for great food and fine wine to offer Annapolis a true taste of Italy!
Team members who also make the business possible include Manager Kathy Hunter, Manager and Catering Director Cheryl Molesky, Head Baker Porfirio Diaz, Chef Alfredo Escobar, and Deli Manager Noe Merino. To contact us, please visit our contact page or give us a call at 410.266.8600. Also, be sure to keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and our blog!
Tags: Giolitti Deli, recipe, vegan, vegetarian