Brooke Bellamy vs Nagi Maehashi: How plagiarism claims are hitting celeb cooks

The plagiarism battle between two of Australia’s most well-known cooks blew up like metal in a microwave, but no one could have predicted what was to come next.

“Have them have a bake-off. I’d pay money for it.”

This is how to settle the score between two of Australia’s online culinary queens: Brooke “Bake with Brooki” Bellamy and Nagi “RecipeTin Eats” Maehashi, who last month became embroiled in a plagiarism stoush that had the whole of the internet talking, believes national public relations guru Max Markson.

Brooke Bellamy, pictured at Brooki Bakehouse in Brisbane, denies the claims. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The two women have each become household names of sorts for their skills in the kitchen – Maehashi with her ability to make cooking simpler thanks to her trouble shooting-style explanations of popular recipes; and Bellamy with her drool-inducing, highly aesthetic cookie creations made famous at her Brisbane bakery Brooki Bakehouse.

Each has amassed millions of followers on social media and a loyal and devoted fan base.

But the reputation of both cooks was called into question when Maehashi accused Bellamy of plagiarising two of her recipes: one for caramel slice and one for baklava, in the book Bake with Brooki.

Nagi Maehashi went public with plagiarism claims in April.

While Bellamy denied the allegations on her social media and Maehashi has made a name for herself by tweaking the recipes of others, the court of public opinion blew up like metal in a microwave, with people staunchly choosing either Camp Brooki or Camp Nagi.

So far, Camp Nagi seems to be winning the public relations stoush, with traffic to Bellamy’s Brooki Bakehouse website dropping by about 17,000 hits in the days following the claims, while clicks on Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats site have been largely unwavering, according to independent traffic monitoring tool Semrush.

Additionally, insiders have revealed to this magazine that Bellamy has lost collaboration deals with brands from around the world believed to be worth tens of thousands of dollars; while it is understood she has spent $20,000 on legal and PR fees as she attempts to fight the allegations.

So the question becomes: how damaging are such accusations and what are the long-term consequences for both parties?

If you listen to PR expert Markson of world-renowned Markson Sparks, the culinary controversy has been an unquestionable win for the pair.

“They’re both getting publicity out of it. It’s really tremendously successful for them both,” he says.

“At the end of the day, it just makes your product sell.”

And that it certainly has, with industry sources revealing sales are up of the already best-selling cookbooks Bake with Brooki and RecipeTin Eats Tonight and Dinner since the accusations arose.

Markson even encouraged the women to keep flaming the drama, advising them to host a kitchen smackdown for all the public to watch.

“What they should do if they really want to make it something is, they should have a cook-off and they should do it live on TV and they should broadcast it on both their Facebook pages,” he says.

Max Markson says the publicity from the stoush has been a win for the pair and even encouraged the women to keep flaming the drama. Picture: Glenn Hampson

However, fellow publicity expert Lisa Llewellyn from crisis management firm Llewellyn Communications believes the matter is far more complicated and potentially detrimental.

“Any allegations of plagiarism can damage a creator’s credibility and this is a space where originality is crucial and even if there’s a sniff of copying it can erode audience trust, brand trust and it can leave lasting reputational harm for all involved and that could be both parties in this situation,” she says, citing intense vitriol targeted especially at Bellamy on socials and public forums such as Reddit.

“The way that both parties handle the fallout from the situation is going to be key to minimising any long-term damage, restoring confidence with their followers and their audience and brand partners.”

And the effect on brand partnerships is where things could prove particularly problematic for those involved, with any cancellation of collaborations by brands looking to distance themselves from the controversy.

“It’s hard to put a dollar figure on it … but what’s at stake here is brand trust and obviously that’s invaluable,” Llewellyn says.

“The true cost depends on how long this controversy lingers, how each party responds, whatever legal action might be taken, and whether their audience loyalty holds.”

Her advice is for both cookbook authors to “stay the course” and “take the temperature of the audience”, while being calm and measured in their response, which she says can steady the narrative, as the facts catch up.

But according to resident philosopher at The Ethics Centre, Dr Tim Dean, facts have become largely overlooked in the era of internet cancellations.

Now, thanks to social media platforms and online forums, the public can easily take sides and address perceived injustices based on who they like or don’t like and who they feel more aligned to.

There were still queues out the door of Brook Bellamy’s Brisbane bakery Brooki Bakehouse after the claims were made in April. Picture: Steve Pohlner

“When somebody perceives an injustice, the natural response is outrage … and one of the things about outrage is it’s contagious, so we want to share that outrage with others and we want to get other people outraged and we want to build a coalition of people who want to act and move and do something about the injustice,” he says.

And thanks to what is known as “confirmation bias”, when we are presented
with information that challenges our view we are more inclined to reject it, while seeking out further information that supports our beliefs.

“Sometimes outrage can make us just want to inflict harm on someone who we think has done something wrong that inspires revenge and in those kinds of sentiments, sometimes that’s not the most appropriate response,” Dean says.

The ethics expert says it could take up to two years for a controversy such as this to blow over before the parties can begin rebuilding their reputation, while Markson believes both will come out relatively unscathed.

“They’re both successful and they’re both talented so, at the end of the day, people will move on,” Markson says.

Originally published as Brooke Bellamy vs Nagi Maehashi: How plagiarism claims are hitting celeb cooks