Nagi Maehashi has taken to social media to publicly call out fellow celebrity cook Brooke Bellamy whom she claims copied recipes for a best-selling book. Publisher Penguin and Bellamy have denied the claims.
Maehashi claimed on Tuesday morning that Bellamy’s cookbook, “Bake with Brooki,” contains two recipes remarkably similar to her beloved RecipeTin Eats recipes – caramel slice and baklava.
However, Bellamy has since refuted the claims and insisted she has been using the recipes years before they were published by Maehashi.
“I’m no stranger to seeing my recipes copied online,” Maehashi wrote in a post on Instagram and on her website.
“But seeing what I believe to be my recipes and my words printed in a multi-million dollar book launched with a huge publicity campaign from one of Australia’s biggest publishers was shocking.”
Maehashi shared that she has been stressed over whether or not to share her grievance publicly for weeks.
“This isn’t a post I’m publishing lightly. I’ve spent many sleepless nights fretting over it, and many hours writing it. The easiest and safest path would be to stay silent. I know there’s risk that legal action may be brought against me for speaking out, and it’s daunting to take on a major publisher and an influencer with a huge TikTok following. But I’m going ahead because, in my heart, I know it’s the right thing to do.”
Maehashi was first alerted to the similarities between recipes, both the ingredients and the attached cooking instructions, in November when a reader made her aware.
“While recipes can resemble one another, because there are only so many ways some recipes can be made, the precision and detail in the similarities in this case are, in my opinion, far too strong to be a coincidence,” continued her post.
Maehashi, whose own book “Tonight” was locked in a battle for the Christmas number one spot last year with “Bake with Brooki,” revealed that her rival’s book had sold 92,849 copies since its release, citing official stats released publicly.
“That’s $4.6 million [$2.94 USD] worth of sales,” she said.
However, Penguin’s lawyers have denied the allegations. News.com.au has also reached out to the publisher directly for comment.
In response to the claims, Bellamy took to Instagram to share a statement on Tuesday evening, denying plagiarizing recipes, and revealing she had been using the recipes for almost a decade.
“I did not plagiarize any recipes in my book,” began the statement. “I have been creating my recipes and selling them commercially since 2016. On March 2020, RecipeTin published a recipe for a caramel slice. It uses the same ingredients as my recipe, which I have been making and selling since four years prior.”
Bellamy went on to allege that she “immediately” offered to remove the recipes from future copies of her book to prevent “further aggravation,” which she claims was communicated to Maehashi.
“I have great respect for Nagi and what she has done for cooks content creators and cookbooks in Australia.
“Recipe development in today’s world is enveloped in inspiration from other cooks, cookbook authors and food bloggers and content creators. The willingness to share recipes and build on what has come before is what I love so much about baking and sharing recipes.”
In her own statement before Bellamy’s response was published, Maehashi told her followers that while she’s unsure whether her recipe is protected under copyright law in Australia, she likely wouldn’t have even asked for a fee to share her recipe had she been asked.
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