Viral cookbook scandal: Top food influencer slammed by bloggers over ‘plagiarised' recipes

Time of India

01-05-2025

Brooke Bellamy
, a popular food influencer in Australia, landed herself in hot water after getting accused of publishing recipes in her 2024 cookbook that were allegedly plagiarised from others' work.
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RecipeTin Eats
founder
Nagi Maehashi
shared on her food blog on April 29 that she made copyright infringement allegations against Bellamy and
Penguin Random House Australia
, which had published the cookbook,
Bake with Brooki
, People magazine reported.
Maehashi said that she saw her recipes in the "$4 million book" and has since been battling with them.
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Nagi Maehashi's allegations
The food blogger claimed that there were recipes in the bestselling book that have allegedly been plagiarised. These include two from Maehashi's website, besides a few others from others.
Maehashi claimed that Bellamy is yet to respond to her, while the publishing house has completely denied all her allegations.
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She stated that the language in her blog post might feel a "little clunky" to the readers, which is due to the "legal constraints".
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When and how did it start?
It all began in November last year, according to Maehashi. She stated that she knew from a reader that the cookbook, which came out in 2024, featured a caramel slice recipe. This was having "remarkable similarities" to one of Maehashi's works.
Soon after, Maehashi started investigating the matter on her own and found out that a baklava recipe from her was quite similar to the one that the cookbook shared.
Although Maehashi acknowledged that recipes might resemble one another, the similarities she witnessed in the particular case was "far too strong to be a coincidence.'
In December 2024, she even discussed this issue with the publishers, but was not happy with their response. She claims that rather than holding "civil discussions," the publisher is believed to have roped in lawyers that made her feel legally intimidating, she wrote in her blog.
More plagiarism allegations come up
Sally McKenney, the person behind Sally's Baking Addiction series, recently shared on her Instagram Stories that she was "grateful" to hear from Maehashi that one of her recipes was allegedly plagiarised in the book, besides a few recipes appearing on the YouTube channel of the author, CNN reported.
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On her behalf, Bellamy has denied all the accusations, stating that the book features 100 recipes that she has "created over many years". She even shared evidence to back her claim and wrote that she had "immediately offered" the choice to get the recipes removed from her book's future reprints. She added that the same was communicated to Maehashi as well.
FAQs
1. What changes have been made after Nagi Maehashi's allegations?
As per her post, a different version of the caramel slice recipe has been released in the new edition of the cookbook.
2. How did Brooke Bellamy respond to the plagiarism allegations?
She has denied copying the content for her recipes in her cookbook.