Latest news with #Brooki
Sydney Morning Herald
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Before Pastrygate: Creative rivalries fuelled by plagiarism are nothing new
Until last week I didn't know Nagi Maehashi could get mad. I've been a fan of Nagi's vibrant and affable cookery for years. Yes, I'm obliged to declare that she writes recipes for this masthead. But I found her stuff delicious long before she started doing that. To judge from the photos in her cookbooks, Dinner and Tonight, Nagi is never unhappy. She's always smiling at a minimum, if not beaming. She has a dog called Dozer who always seems to be smiling too. Last week, however, Nagi's world was sullied by an unprecedented whiff of beef. On her website, RecipeTin Eats, Nagi levelled a serious allegation against another celebrity chef, Brooke Bellamy, author of the cookbook Bake with Brooki. According to Nagi, two recipes in that book – one for caramel slice and one for baklava – were stolen from RecipeTin Eats. 'Profiting from plagiarised recipes is unethical,' Nagi wrote, 'and it's a slap in the face to every author who puts in the hard work to create original content.' For her part, Bellamy denies plagiarising either recipe. But to 'prevent further aggravation,' she has promised to remove them both from future editions of her book. More allegations of plagiarism have followed, including a claim that Brooki purloined her recipe for Portuguese tarts from the late Bill Granger. This masthead does not suggest that any of the allegations are true, only that they have been made. Anyway, you sense this affair isn't yet done. For the moment I suggest we call it 'Pastrygate', reserving the option to go with 'Sticky Dategate' if Brooki is ever accused of plagiarising a pudding. The word plagiarist comes from the Latin plagiarius, meaning kidnapper. When we call someone a plagiarist, we're not just accusing them of theft. We're saying they've made off with someone else's cherished offspring. All artists, good and bad, are influenced by the work of their forerunners. Good artists absorb the work of their mentors, then try to outdo them.
The Age
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Before Pastrygate: Creative rivalries fuelled by plagiarism are nothing new
Until last week I didn't know Nagi Maehashi could get mad. I've been a fan of Nagi's vibrant and affable cookery for years. Yes, I'm obliged to declare that she writes recipes for this masthead. But I found her stuff delicious long before she started doing that. To judge from the photos in her cookbooks, Dinner and Tonight, Nagi is never unhappy. She's always smiling at a minimum, if not beaming. She has a dog called Dozer who always seems to be smiling too. Last week, however, Nagi's world was sullied by an unprecedented whiff of beef. On her website, RecipeTin Eats, Nagi levelled a serious allegation against another celebrity chef, Brooke Bellamy, author of the cookbook Bake with Brooki. According to Nagi, two recipes in that book – one for caramel slice and one for baklava – were stolen from RecipeTin Eats. 'Profiting from plagiarised recipes is unethical,' Nagi wrote, 'and it's a slap in the face to every author who puts in the hard work to create original content.' For her part, Bellamy denies plagiarising either recipe. But to 'prevent further aggravation,' she has promised to remove them both from future editions of her book. More allegations of plagiarism have followed, including a claim that Brooki purloined her recipe for Portuguese tarts from the late Bill Granger. This masthead does not suggest that any of the allegations are true, only that they have been made. Anyway, you sense this affair isn't yet done. For the moment I suggest we call it 'Pastrygate', reserving the option to go with 'Sticky Dategate' if Brooki is ever accused of plagiarising a pudding. The word plagiarist comes from the Latin plagiarius, meaning kidnapper. When we call someone a plagiarist, we're not just accusing them of theft. We're saying they've made off with someone else's cherished offspring. All artists, good and bad, are influenced by the work of their forerunners. Good artists absorb the work of their mentors, then try to outdo them.
West Australian
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Brooki Bakehouse's Brooke Bellamy returns to Instagram after Nagi Maehashi accuses her of plagiarising recipes
Cookie queen Brooke Bellamy has returned to Instagram days after fellow internet cooking sensation Nagi Maehashi accused her of copying her recipes. The under pressure founder of the viral dessert business, Brooki Bakehouse, thanked customers on her company account for their support amid the plagiarism claims. 'We're very grateful for our local community showing up for us this week, Brisbane you've been incredible since day one. from all of us here at Brooki.' The statement comes after Bellamy was forced to deny claims she infringed RecipeTin Eats founder Maehashi's copyright by 'word-for-word' taking two of her recipes, including caramel slice, and using them in her latest best-selling book, Bake with Brooki. Maehashi also alleged that Bellamy had taken recipes from other authors: 'including (from) a very well known, beloved cookbook author where the similarities are so extensive, dismissing it as a coincidence would be absurd.' Maehashi doubled down on her claims in another Instagram post on Thursday that showed a side-by-side comparison of her caramel slice and Bellamy's. Another food blogger also went public to allege Bellamy had stolen one of her recipes, too. US food blogger Sally McKenney, who founded Sally's Baking Addiction, claimed Bellamy had taken her best vanilla cake recipe. Bellamy, who has more than a million followers online, has denied plagiarising any recipes. She said she had been making the recipes at the centre of Maehashi's allegations — for caramel slice and baklava — for years before Maehashi published her takes on the favourites. 'I did not plagiarise any recipes in my book which consists of 100 recipes I have created over many years, since falling in love with baking as a child and growing up baking with my mum in our home kitchen. She said she had offered to remove both of Maehashi's recipes from future reprints to prevent 'further aggravation'.
The Australian
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Australian
Brooke Bellamy responds to RecipeTinEats Nagi Maehashi's allegations
Cakegate is heating up on Wednesday morning, with Brooke Bellamy, from Brooki's Bakehouse rejecting a rival cook's claim that she plagiarised, among other things, a caramel slice recipe. Gen Y baking superstar, Brooke Bellamy, whose bright pink Bake with Brooki recipe guide was upon release the nation's No. 1 cookbook, told The Australian overnight that she had been making the contested caramel slice since at least December 2016, and – icing on the cake – she provided an Instagram snap of the slice (surely now Exhibit A in any legal dispute) on a laden table, with the date attached. Her rival in the cookbooks, megaseller Nagi Maehashi of RecipeTin Eats has accused Brooki (everyone in this name tends to goes by a cute first name) of taking the caramel slice recipe, and a baklava recipe, without permission. She has also publicly accused Brooki of taking recipes from at least one other chef, who 'didn't want to be named.' The Australian understands that the other cook is the late Bill Grainger, of Bill's Bondi, and Bill's Surry Hills. In a note to The Australian, Brooki said she had provided Nagi's legal team with evidence of her own caramel slice baking 'upon their first contact.' On Instagram, she said: 'In light of the recent allegations made against me by RecipeTin Eats for plagiarising two of her recipes in my Bake with Brooki (caramel slice and baklava) I would like to make the following statement: I did not plagiarise any recipes in my book.' Brooki said she had created her recipes over many years 'since falling in love with baking as a child … with my Mum in our home kitchen.' 'In 2016, I opened my first bakery. In March 2020, RecipeTin Eats published a recipe for caramel slice. 'It uses the same ingredients as my recipe, which I have been making and selling since four years prior.' The Australian does not suggest that Brooki (or Nagi) took anyone's recipe, only that the allegation has been made. The dispute may sound like a storm in a cupcake, but there's serious dough at stake. Nagi's debut cookbook, RecipeTin: Eats (Dinner) has sold more than 350,000 copies, and her follow up, RecipeTin: Eats (Tonight) has sold 337,000 copies. At a RRP of $49.99, that's more than $34 million in sales. Brooki is fast catching up, with almost 100,000 copies of the baby-pink Bake With Brooki sold since it was launched in October 2024. Brooki also sells cute 'merch' including oven mitts, and those massive water bottles so popular with the young. With her smiley face, accessible ingredients, and failsafe, simple recipes, Nagi is a favourite of Gen X and Millennial home cooks, who need to whip up tasty meals on a budget. Brooki's baby-pink cookbook is a favourite with Gen Y, who go nuts for her NYC cookie boxes. She recently opened a pop-up in Dubai, and the queue for cookies went around the block. It's not uncommon to see young girls screaming with pleasure outside her 'bakehouses.' Things have been frosty between the two cooks since December, when one of Nagi's devoted readers alerted her to similarities between the two caramel slice recipes. Nagi says she didn't want to stir up trouble, but says lawyers for Penguin Random House, which publishes Brooki, refused to take her complaint seriously. 'I'm no stranger to seeing my recipes being copied online. But seeing what appeared to me to be one of my recipes printed in a book launched with a huge publicity campaign from one of Australia's biggest publishers was shocking.' Nagi has engaged Simpsons, a law firm specialising in intellectual property 'to help me understand my rights, assess my legal position, and handle correspondence from Penguin's lawyers.' 'Regardless, it's not about the number – it's about the principle. Rewarding shortcuts devalues the hard work of every original creator who does things the right way,' Nagi said. 'And let's not forget – this is not a small book gathering dust in the dark corner of bookshops. This has been a blockbuster launched with a big marketing campaign. $4.6 million worth of sales in Australia alone, in less than six months. It is not clear that recipes can in fact be plagiarised, and in any case, plagiarism is not illegal. It is considered unethical. Some recipes may attract copyright protection, but this hasn't been tested by the Australian courts. Recipe for success: just good taste Caroline Overington Literary Editor Caroline Overington has twice won Australia's most prestigious award for journalism, the Walkley Award for Investigative Journalism; she has also won the Sir Keith Murdoch award for Journalistic Excellence; and the richest prize for business writing, the Blake Dawson Prize. She writes thrillers for HarperCollins, and she's the author of Last Woman Hanged, which won the Davitt Award for True Crime Writing. Nation Australians who worked from home since the Covid pandemic have cut their commute times by 3.4 hours a week, a time saving worth an estimated $5308 a year. Nation Leongatha mushroom chef Erin Patterson will face a newly sworn-in jury on Wednesday morning as the Crown and defence deliver their opening statements in her murder trial which is expected to last up to six weeks.
What's On
08-04-2025
- Entertainment
- What's On
Foodies, this is your last week to visit popular e& Beach Canteen in Dubai
If you love food and want to be spoilt for choice, take note, e& Beach Canteen is back – which is excellent news for our bellies. The pop-up returns to Nessnass Beach in Jumeirah from Thursday, March 27 to Sunday, April 13, transforming the space into a bustling hub packed with food, entertainment, games, wellness, and shopping opportunities. The best news? Entry is free. *Unmissable music events in the UAE this April* What can you expect at e& Beach Canteen this year? If you visited last year, expect the same cool vibes alongside delicious options to eat, spanning street food to gourmet. We don't know the whole list of vendors just yet, but here are a few highlights. Italian fans can enjoy homemade pasta and Italian soul brimming with NYC energy at Pastasole, and for a slice of pizza, Local Foundry is serving sourdough pizzas hot from the oven. For burgers, Flave DXB is setting up a stall at the pop-up alongside SYOTG who will be cooking up premium steaks for the meat eaters. And if you want to try something new, track down Sweet Dee's Jerk for authentic Jamaican dishes such as marinated chicken wrap. For the sweet-toothed visitors, save space post your main meal for Australia's famous cookie, Brooki, or you can try the London-famous Knot Churros (a milkshake combining churro and cotton candy). And for the boba-obsessed, Boba Tea will be at the space ready to serve up Instagrammable bubble tea magic. To keep the energy levels high as you bounce around the very many food vendors, there is live entertainment on the main stage from singers to African drummers, violinists, and more. Want to explore a little more before diving into food? There's plenty, including checking out some thrilling rides and trying out your luck at a skill game. Want something more creative? There are workshops where you can show off your creativity by painting, decorating a mirror, creating your own body scrub, or learning the art of Japanese origami. There are workshops for the little ones, too, so no one is left out. Oh, and when we say no one is left out, we mean it, because you can expect to take some fitness classes beachside, too. e& Beach Canteen, Nessnass Beach, Jumeirah, March 27 to April 13, 4pm to midnight, free entry, @beachcanteenofficial Images: Unsplash and Social > Sign up for FREE to get exclusive updates that you are interested in
