RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi has accused Bake With Brooki author Brooke Bellamy of stealing recipes from her and other unnamed authors, claiming the similarities with two of her own recipes “are so specific and detailed that calling these a coincidence feels disingenuous”.
Bake With Brooki by Bellamy – owner of Brooki Bakehouse in Brisbane – was published by Penguin in October last year and retails for $49.99.
RecipeTin Eats founder and owner Nagi Maehashi with her dog, Dozer.Credit: Rob Palmer
The RecipeTin Eats recipes at issue are for caramel slice and baklava, and Maehashi has posted on Instagram side-by-side pictures of these two recipes from the two books.
This masthead does not suggest the accusations of plagiarism are true, only that they have been made. Penguin and Bellamy have been approached for comment.
Penguin has denied the allegations, “stating (via their lawyers) ‘Our client respectfully rejects your client’s allegations and confirms that the recipes in [Bake With Brooki] were written by Brooke Bellamy’,” according to a post on Maehashi’s Instagram page.
Bellamy strenuously denied the claims in a story on her Instagram. “I did not plagiarise any recipes in my book which consists of 100 recipes I have created over many years,” she wrote. “In 2016, I opened my first bakery. I have been creating my recipes and selling them commercially since October 2016.”
Brooke Bellamy, author of Bake With Brooki.
The Queensland author posted an image showing her caramel slice dated December 2016 and wrote: “On March 2020, Recipetin Eats (sic) 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.”
In the post Bellamy says she “immediately offered to remove both recipes from future reprints to prevent further aggravation”.
Paying tribute to Maehashi, Bellamy continued “I have great respect for Nagi and what she has done in recent years for cooks, content creators and cookbooks in Australia - especially as a fellow female entrepreneur.”
In Maehashi’s Instagram post she wrote that “profiting” from alleged plagiarism was “unethical, even if not a copyright breach”.
“There are also 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 (in my opinion),” Maehashi claimed.
“Out of respect for the other authors, I cannot share further details at this time.
“I have nothing to gain from speaking out, but staying silent would make me complicit. Because I am not the only one,” Maehashi alleged.
In a post on her RecipeTin Eats website, Maehashi said she first raised concerns with Penguin in December following a reader’s email and has engaged her own legal representation.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.