Nagi Maehashi defends Brooke Bellamy against trolls

Cookbook author Nagi Maehashi has come to the defence of Brisbane baking queen Brooke Bellamy, just hours after escalating their social media stoush.

Brooke Bellamy at her Brisbane home on Wednesday

Cookbook author Nagi Maehashi has come to the defence of Brisbane baking queen Brooke Bellamy, just hours after escalating their social media stoush.

Maehashi earlier this week accused Bellamy of copying her recipes for a smash-hit cookbook.

But in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday night, Maehashi implored online trolls to back off Bellamy.

“Please stop the trolling,” the celebrity chef said.

“I know I’ve made serious allegations but this does not justify the personal attacks that I’ve seen online against Brooke Bellamy.

“I do not support it and I’m asking you to stop.

“I know that this is just a very, very small percentage of people online … share your opinions, have heated debates … but just keep it respectful.

“At the end of day we’re talking about recipes and this is a business dispute.”

Hours earlier, Maehashi had doubled down on her claims against Bellamy, sharing a post indicating she had published an allegedly copied recipe for caramel slice first almost 10 years ago.

The response came after Bellamy said she created her recipe in 2016, four years before an identical one appeared in Maehashi’s 2020 cookbook.

Nagi Maehashi on Instagram on Thursday night

RELATED: Inside TikTok star baker Brooke Bellamy’s $3.6m escape

“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,” Bellamy wrote.

Bellamy said she told Maehashi this when she first reached out with allegations of copying recipes and, despite strongly denying the claims, offered to remove the recipe from further reprints.

Penguin Random House, the publisher behind the Bake With Brooki cookbook, quietly released an edited version in recent weeks. It features substantial changes in the wording of the method in the caramel slice recipe.

Maehashi shared screenshots online of an archived RecipeTin Eats post which showed the recipe was first published by her in April 2016.

Taking to social media on Thursday morning, Maehashi later took tongue-in-cheek aim at her rival, posting a video of herself with a stack of chunky cookies similar to those that gave Bellamy her fame.

The video, captioned “Back to work. No more distractions” left fans and other creators quick to describe the video as a “big FU” to Bellamy.

Bellamy’s lawyer, Wilkinson Butler special counsel Damian Kelly, released a second statement from the distressed cook on Wednesday evening, where it was revealed she was four months pregnant and pleading for privacy. Bellamy, who welcomed her and husband Justice’s first child Collette seven months ago, described the recent media attention as overwhelming.

Originally published as Nagi Maehashi defends Brooke Bellamy against trolls