Meet Malena Penny, a food allergy mom who has several allergies herself!

“I run Fun With Allergy Kids (www.allergykids.co.nz) which provides recipes, support and guidance to families with allergies.”

Name: Malena Penney (Fun With Allergy Kids)

Occupation: Pastry Chef/ Psychology Student/Mother

Home city: Christchurch, New Zealand

Allergies or intolerances: myself: dairy, beef, spinach; children : dairy, egg, peanut, treenuts (anaphylactic for Miss 3), wheat, beef, lamb, apple, tomato (Miss 3 is also allergic or intolerant to everything except about 12 safe foods, also suffers from severe eczema)

Favorite Pastimes or hobbies: baking, gardening, tending to my backyard chickens, sewing

What is your favorite food to cook? Anything with chocolate!

What’s your go-to meal? Roast Sticky Duck

How do food allergies or intolerances influence your grocery shopping?  It makes it a LOT more expensive!  And takes a lot of time due to needing to read labels.

How do food allergies or intolerances influence where or how often you dine out?  Dining out is very difficult for us.  We do occasionally go out to an Asian place for Peking Duck, maybe twice a year.

Have you ever said no to a social event due to food restrictions? Yes, often!  We also often get excluded from events due to allergies.

Have you ever experienced bullying or social intolerance regarding your dietary restrictions? Yes, the worst being “oh yes, my child doesn’t like dairy either”.

Have you ever had an anaphylactic reaction and if so, what happened? Yes: throat restriction, choking feeling with wheezing and a sense of impending doom.  Weeks of severe asthma followed this.  Also experienced chest tightness and lip swelling.

You can find Fun With Allergy Kids on Facebook www.facebook.com/funwithallergykids and Instagramwww.instagram.com/funwithallergykids or you can visit her main site www.allergykids.co.nz