Amanda Orlando is the Toronto-based published author, photographer, food blogger, and allergy awareness advocate. She is the author of  two food allergy-aware cookbooks, Everyone's Welcome (2019, Touchwood Editions), and Allergen-Free Desserts (2015, Skyhorse publishing). Amanda is also an advocate to those who have food allergies; she deals with allergies first hand on a daily basis. Amanda is  allergic to peanuts, nuts (excluding coconut), dairy, soy protein, and legumes (peas, chickpeas, beans, lentils) and all are anaphylactic. 

Amanda welcomes any opportunity to share her food-allergen journey with others. She often provides insight, through her writings and speaking engagements, into how she managed growing up with so many allergies and how she navigated it throughout the years. Amanda also has her own website, everydayallergenfree.com, where she shares lifestyle articles, recipes, and life hacks aimed at the teen and millennial crowd. Outside of this Amanda works full time in the publishing industry and spends her free time cooking and photographing her creations.

Interviewed by our Founder and President, Alexandra Nicholas, Amanda discusses the realities of life with allergies. She shares her experiences and knowledge of life with allergies. Amanda talks about debating the risks of eating out with food allergies, as she finds it more challenging today than it used to be. Amanda also informs about the vital importance of labelling allergens, how she grocery shops with food allergies, and the importance of administering epinephrine right away if one is having a reaction. Amanda aims to inspire confidence in people managing food allergies in their everyday life. She reminds others to, “Live a full and ‘normal’ life with food allergies and find the silver linings to your allergen diagnosis.”