RecipeTin Eats: cookbook author accuses influencer of plagiarism
The Australian founder of a popular food website has accused a social media influencer of copying two of her recipes. Owner of RecipeTin Eats, Nagi Maehashi, said baker Brooke Bellamy's cookbook contains recipes with "word-for-word similarities to mine".Ms Bellamy has rejected the allegations, saying her book "consists of 100 recipes I have created over many years" and that one of the recipes in question was created before Ms Maehashi had published hers.RecipeTin Eats attracts a monthly readership of 45 million page views and Ms Maehashi is the author of two cookbooks. Ms Bellamy is the owner of three bakeries and a popular baker on TikTok with two million followers.
Ms Maehashi said that a reader pointed out what she described as "remarkable similarities" between her caramel slice recipe and the one in Ms Bellamy's bestselling cookbook Bake with Brooki.She said she later also discovered similarities between her baklava recipe and Ms Bellamy's, offering a side-by-side comparison in a statement on RecipeTin Eats.Ms Maehashi said she had contacted Ms Bellamy's publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, adding that they "brought in lawyers and resorted to what felt to me legal intimidation"."It feels like a blatant exploitation of my work. To see them plagiarised and used in a book for profit, without permission, and without credit, doesn't just feel unfair," she added.Ms Maehashi has retained her own legal counsel and has written to both Ms Bellamy and Penguin.
Bake with Brooki was published in October 2024 and has since sold A$4.6m (£2.1m; $2.9) worth of copies.Penguin and Ms Bellamy have both strenuously denied the accusations, with the publisher issuing a response to Ms Maehashi confirming "the recipes in the BWB Book were written by Brooke Bellamy".Ms Bellamy said she offered to take down the recipes from future reprints, which was communicated "swiftly" to Ms Maehashi.She added that she had "great respect for Nagi", but has stood by her recipes in a series of Instagram stories. "Recipe development in today's world is enveloped in inspiration from other cooks, cookbook authors, food bloggers and content creators," she said.Both Ms Maehashi and Ms Bellamy's cookbooks have been shortlisted for this year's Australian Book Industry Awards.
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