Father’s thanks for Italian food (5)
I believe the answer is:
pasta
'italian food' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'father's thanks' is the wordplay.
'father's' becomes 'pas' (pa is a kind of father).
'thanks' becomes 'ta' (UK informal version of 'thank you').
'pas'+'ta'='PASTA'
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for pasta that I've seen before include "Dried flour paste used in cooking Italian dishes" , "Basis for serving" , "E.g. fusilli" , "Fare from Italy" , "eg Macaroni" .)