The pig sat preparing Italian food (9)
I believe the answer is:
spaghetti
'italian food' is the definition.
(I know that pasta are Italian)
'the pig sat preparing' is the wordplay.
'preparing' indicates an anagram (the same letters prepared differently).
'the'+'pig'+'sat'='thepigsat'
'thepigsat' is an anagram of 'SPAGHETTI'.
(Other definitions for spaghetti that I've seen before include "It's past eight, time for strange pasta" , "Solid strings of pasta" , "Stringed pasta" , "Variety of pasta" , "Birmingham interchange" .)