Italian ingredient: former essential component of meals (5)
I believe the answer is:
pasta
'italian ingredient' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both things that one consumes for nourishment as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'former essential component of meals' is the wordplay.
'former' becomes 'past' (similar in meaning).
'essential component of meals' becomes 'a' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'past'+'a'='PASTA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pasta that I've seen before include "Staple food of Italy" , "eg Tortellini" , "Processed flour dough" , "shells, perhaps" , "dish high in carbohydrates" .)