Pam Brandon, who began her career as a hard-news journalist, had never imagined herself as a culinary celebrity. But that’s exactly what she became, thanks in large part to the 23 cookbooks—several of them national bestsellers—that she created in conjunction with Walt Disney World.
Brandon describes her professional journey as “wonderfully serendipitous,” with one opportunity usually leading to another, even more exciting one. Finally, that journey has brought her to Winter Park Magazine, where she’ll reunite with old friends and become the magazine’s food writer..
In her role, Brandon will once again work with Randy Noles, the magazine’s publisher, and Theresa Swanson, the magazine’s director of sales, all of whom met when they were staffers at Orlando Magazine in the mid-1980s under the man who would become their shared mentor, the legendary publisher Ed Prizer.
“Pam is a friend but also the best at what she does,” says Noles. “It has been great watching over the years as she became arguably the region’s best-known foodie. When you combine authoritative knowledge with superb writing skills, then you get special stories. We’re thrilled that this affiliation has finally happened.”
Brandon’s most recent book, The Official Disney Parks Desserts Cookbook: Remembering 101 Sweet Delicious Disney Recipes (2025), which collects 101 usually-decadent (and always sweet) culinary creations from Disney’s theme parks, cruise lines and resorts. It’s full to bursting with recipes for breads, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, confections, crisps, drinks, pies, shortcakes and tarts.
Her previous book, Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World Recipes & Stories from the Most Magical Place on Earth (2024), celebrated Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary and was written in collaboration with Marcy Carriker Smothers, a California-based author and media personality.
The lavish volume included more than 60 popular recipes from Disney restaurants past and present as well as delicious origin stories behind some well-loved menu items, from the kitschy (the peanut butter and jelly milkshake) to the classy (smoked buffalo with melted fennel and leeks with hearts of palm salad).
Sure, you may say, Disney can whip up these magical concoctions. They are, after all, Disney. There’s no way a home cook could replicate what they do. Oh, yes you can, insists Brandon. If you couldn’t, then they wouldn’t be in the books.
“Every recipe is tested in a home kitchen,” says Brandon. “We test each recipe up to three times, and if they just aren’t working in our kitchen, we toss them out—even though they might work perfectly in a professional kitchen at Disney.”
Her next book project, though, is even closer to home. Orlando’s Kitchens: Recipes and Stories for Our Neighbors, will feature recipes from local restaurants in designated neighborhoods, including the Mills 50 District, the Milk District, the Hourglass District, the Downtown District and the I-Drive District. She’ll highlight favorites in Eatonville, Maitland and Winter Park.
The book, to be published this fall by Visit Orlando, will encompass not only recipes from restaurants but also personal stories from their talented chefs and industrious owners. Other food-related operations, such as the nonprofit 4 Roots agricultural complex in the Packing District and assorted local farmer’s markets, will likewise be showcased.
“Nothing like this has ever been done before,” says Brandon. “It’s not just about the food. Appreciating what you’re eating is part of the dining experience. And I think you appreciate food more when you know the stories of the people behind the food. For me, this book will be like a love letter to the culinary community in Central Florida.”
A native of Parkersburg, West Virginia, the down-to-earth Brandon is no diva despite her rarified stature among legions of Disney aficionados. In fact, the only diva-like thing about Brandon is her friendly (but final and firm) refusal to divulge her age.
Sure, readers can do the math based on the dates of milestones in her life—for example, she graduated from Marshall University in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and Spanish—but friends say she seems eternally in her 30s.
After graduation, Brandon (then Pam Florence) worked five years on the copy desk at the Charleston Gazette, which she describes as “an old-school newsroom” where reporters hammered out stories on manual typewriters and Brandon made sense of them using scissors, rubber cement, blue pencils and correction fluid. “I just edited,” she says. “At the time, I didn’t want to write.”
She married, took a cross-country camping excursion with her “starter husband” and moved to Florida, where she was hired in 1980 as a typesetter at Orlando Magazine. Soon thereafter, she was promoted to news editor and, as fate would have it, began writing a tourism column that covered Disney and other attractions.
“Working for Mr. Prizer was as good as it got, I thought,” recalls Brandon. “He was an old A.P. [Associated Press] guy. He and his wife, Artice, became like second parents to me. When I went through a divorce, I became a single mother with a young daughter. And Ed and Artice came to my house to reassure me that I always had a place at the magazine.”
In 1987, just as Disney-MGM Studios was opening, Brandon was visited by Charlie Ridgway, director of press and publicity, and Bob Mervine, public relations manager, who took her to a casual lunch. She was, to her surprise, offered a job as senior publicist for the company whose activities she had chronicled for the past seven years.
“I didn’t even know what a publicist did,” recalls Brandon. “I had a newsroom background. And then there were Ed and Artice, who had been so good to me. I cried for days trying to make up my mind. When I told Ed, he said, ‘You should take this job. It’s a great opportunity.’”
And so it proved to be. Brandon started out producing a newsletter for media members and later headed publicity for new Disney hotels such as the Dolphin, the Swan and the Yacht & Beach Club. Later she helped to roll out new developments such as Disney’s Boardwalk and Celebration.
Those were certainly halcyon days at Disney, recalls Brandon, who never got over the thrill of walking up the steps to her office overlooking Main Street USA. But when the erstwhile editor married commercial real estate developer Steve Brandon in 1991 and had another child, Will, in 1992, she began to reevaluate her priorities.
“I was giving up too much personal and family time,” she Brandon. “I wanted to regain the right work-life balance.” She resigned from her full-time position in 1995 but wasn’t on the sidelines for long. The following year, she became a contractor for Disney’s Food & Beverage department as it went on a spree opening restaurants in conjunction with prominent chefs.
Brandon also worked on special projects unrelated to Disney’s Orlando operation, including Disney California Adventure Park (2001) and Disneyland’s 50th anniversary (2005). Then came the Aulani resort in Hawaii (2011) and Shanghai Disney (2015).
Since 1996, Brandon has written 23 cookbooks for Disney. But she also wrote The Unofficial Guide to Florida with Kids (2001), Culinary Confessions of the PTA Divas (2005) and co-authored two award-winning Florida cookbooks with her daughter and former Orlando Sentinel food writer Heather McPherson: Field to Feast: Recipes Celebrating Florida Farmers, Chefs and Artisans (2012) and Good Catch: Recipes & Stories Celebrating the Best of Florida’s Waters (2014).
A resident of Winter Park’s historic Virginia Heights neighborhood, Brandon has also been an effective community volunteer. At the urging of Thaddeus Seymour, the late president emeritus of Rollins College, she served for a decade on the board of the Winter Park Public Library and started a “Bash for Books” fundraiser, winning the library’s Evaline Lamson Meritorious Service Award in 2006.
Subsequently, Brandon chaired several iterations of the annual Peacock Ball for the Winter Park Historical Association (which operates the Winter Park History Museum) and lent her marketing savvy to the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park.
For more than 20 years, the Brandons have hosted parties at their home where guests were asked to bring books for the Adult Literacy League. More than 4,000 volumes have been donated so far, she says. Brandon has also been integral to the league’s “Reading Between the Wines” fundraiser, recruiting chefs and restaurants to participate.
But there’s more! Two mornings each week, Brandon volunteers in the kitchen at the Winter Park Day Nursery, arriving at 6:30 a.m. to prep meals and snacks for the nursery’s young charges.
And she serves on the board of Get Cooking, which offers low-income families cooking lessons with local all-star chefs via meetings on Zoom. The nonprofit works with 4Roots to provide food for the families to prepare during the monthly sessions. Notes Brandon: “It’s a hands-on class that ends with a meal for the family to enjoy together.”
A foodie force of nature, Brandon has identified 12 distinct cuisines in Winter Park and says she’s looking forward to being laser focused on her hometown for Winter Park Magazine. She says: “I want to take readers to places where they’ve never been and introduce them to people that they didn’t know.”