Dawn Viola

Dawn Viola is a food writer and award-winning cook.

After an accomplished career as a copywriter and creative director in the advertising industry for over a decade, Dawn switched her writing focus to food when a soy and peanut allergy diagnosis forced her to change the way she purchased, cooked and enjoyed food. She enrolled in culinary school and began a crusade to teach others how to cook with creativity and purpose using sustainable, local and organic ingredients whenever possible, with an improvisational approach to cooking.

She has written original recipe articles, food features, cooking instruction documents and commentary for a variety of publications and blogs such as Chef2Chef, Recipe Lion, and Examiner, handling all aspects of research, photo styling and editing. She has also appeared on Food Network, Fox News, Martha Stewart Radio, and was recently featured in Desserts Magazine.

Dawn is currently the 2009 Crisco National Apple Pie Champion (professional division), and has also placed in the California Table Grape Commission and Faces of Contadina recipe challenges.

She is a professional member of the American Culinary Federation, Slow Food, and the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, and is currently working on her first book -- a collection of recipes and memoirs about her love affair with fruit pies.