Result of a sleepless night (or morning)...

Here I am, up at this ungodly hour after a night of oil-burning and tea-guzzling. The windows are shut, the doors locked and the blinds drawn after a recent encounter with a thief. So I am not able to discern the usual twittering (the natural variety) activity that usually happens outside at this twilight hour. But I digress...
This time around, the puzzle might come across as a tough cryptic nut for the newly initiated. The gloves are off, people!
Enjoy... or not!

Promises kept and unkept.

Wow! Just... wow! Talk about coming through with promises. My gratitude to a certain someone for the massive bump in the traffic. Now, it is my turn. Here are the solutions.
Across
Establish our identity by our nourishment. (2,3,4,2,3)
WE ARE WHAT WE EAT (straight clue)
Bread? Sounds more like the animal lovers' assoc. (4)
PITA (as it sounds like PETA)
Add a little something, something... (5,2)
SPICE UP
Org. of dark forecast. (3)
FDA
Between cooking and slicing of meat. (7)
RESTING (straight enough, I guess)
Investigate and learn. (9)
ASCERTAIN
Singular piece of unattainable fruit. (4,5)
SOUR GRAPE
Tuscan red wine. (7)
CHIANTI
'Bellissimo!', in 'Zakirese'! (3)
WAH
Creamy dessert! (7)
PUDDING
Adrak to Imli: ____ of Indian spices (1,2,1)
ATOI (Not very happy with either the clue or the phrase)
Cogitation with respect to consumption. (7,3,4)
THOUGHT FOR FOOD

Down
Alcoholic drink (4)
WINE
Olive oil that has never been kissed? (5-6)
EXTRA-VIRGIN
Wine or chicken meat type. (5)
WHITE
Choose. (5)
ELECT
Aloo curry and ____. (5,4)
PUFFY PURI (Reminds me of my high school Sunday afternoons)
Harshly critical cooking vessel? (3)
PAN (Two meanings of the same word)
In Italy, grasp a raging bull containing edible shoots from a plant. (8)
Asparagi (Italian for asparagus)
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V. (8)
RECREATE
Seasonal liquid or the ingredient that gives the local flavour to liquors? (6,5)
SPRING WATER (season = spring, liquid = water)
Persian beverage popular in the Indian City of Nawab. (5,4)
IRANI CHAI (of course!)
Spice or hair color or a horrible singer! (6)
GINGER
Dry fruit gone nuts and topsy turvy! (6)
WEHSAC (Cashew spelt the other way)
Jump or the soure of malt for beer it is! (3)
HOP (two meanings of the same word)
Related to sound. (5)
AUDIO
Entity in Methi 'n ginger. (5)
THING
Lassi or revenge best served ___. (4)
COLD

Hope the clues and solutions were clear. I have quite a lot of ideas for the next few puzzles. Stay tuned!
Oh, what was that? You like the banner picture, you say? You can direct your bouquets to this person.
Thanks Priya!

More.

At the outset, let me apologize for MIA last week. To make it up to you, here is a set that gave me great joy in making (even though, I am not too happy with the clues)! As you can see from the time of my posting, the better part of the weekend was spent on coming up with this set.
Hope you like it!
Oh, by the way, this week's puzzle does not have a theme as such.