51²è¹Ý

High-profile US baker, food blogger and cookbook author Sally McKenney, of , prides herself on her well-tested recipes (like Maehashi). Bellamy reproduced her recipe for “Best Vanilla Cake” (first published in 2019), both in her cookbook, Bake with Brooki, and on her YouTube channel. Bellamy has denied all allegations, including these latest ones. I’m not suggesting plagiarism has occurred, only that allegations have been made.

While this is the latest cookbook-related scandal to rock the culinary world, there is a long history of plagiarism, fraud and just plain misfortune that has plagued cookbook publishing – from Belle Gibson’s cancer story and Pete Evans’ bone broth formula, to lesser known stories. Here are some others that have made the headlines.

Makan, Masterchef and copied memories

In October 2021, Bloomsbury Absolute it was withdrawing Makan, the debut cookbook of Singaporean-born British chef Elizabeth Haigh, “due to rights issues”.

American-Singaporean author “certain recipes and other content” had been “copied or paraphrased without my consent” from her memoir-cookbook, , published nearly a decade earlier, in 2012. Haigh, a contestant on UK Masterchef and recipient of a Michelin star, declined media requests for comment.

She was accused of not only reproducing 15 of Wee’s mother’s recipes in her book, but also of Wee’s personal memories and family stories.

For example, compared this passage from Haigh’s book:

By tradition, Nonya Aunties engaged all their senses when they cooked. It was really important to gauge the smells and colour of the gravy; feel the warmth of the charcoal or wok heat; listen to the sizzle of the rempah, and the best bit, taste constantly. The Aunties cooked by agak agak or ‘guesstimation’.

to this from Wee’s:

Traditionally, the Nonyas engaged all their senses when they cooked – it was important to gauge the colour of the gravy, smell the aroma of the spices, feel the warmth of the charcoal heat, listen to the rhythm of the pounding and most importantly, taste the final product when the cooking is finished. As such, recipes passed down the generations were inexact. Cooking was by estimation or what the Nonyas called agak-agak.

Apart from their single-sentence statement and the withdrawal of Makan from market, Bloomsbury Absolute remained silent about the allegations.

A successful recipe lawsuit

Issues with recipe plagiarism have been around for a long time. In the 1980s, a legal stoush ensued between .

Olney had spent much of his culinary career in France and was the author of two cookbooks, (1970) and (1974).

Nelson, the protégé of American culinary icon , published his book, , in 1983. It copied up to 39 recipes wholesale from Simple French Food, as well as the work of other cookbook authors.

Nelson claimed innocence, stating repeatedly: “recipes don’t belong to anyone”. Olney filed a copyright infringement lawsuit, which was in 1984.

This set an ethical, if not legal, precedent over the ownership of recipes. Nelson never professionally recovered.

Dangerous misinformation

Issues of plagiarism are one thing, but some cookbooks, like now Netflix-famous Belle Gibson’s can risk dangerous consequences.

Gibson was an early Australian “wellness” influencer who fabricated a diagnosis of brain cancer and claimed she cured herself of that cancer by eating a wholefood diet and shunning conventional medicine. In this case, the danger wasn’t with the recipes themselves, but lay in Gibson leading others to believe they could cure themselves with those recipes.

In 2013, Gibson started an Instagram account in order to share her story and “help” others heal through food. She went on to launch an app, The Whole Pantry, in 2013 and its companion cookbook in 2014 – before her empire came crashing down.

A now iconic interview on followed that uncovered her lies: she never had cancer. Publisher Penguin they hadn’t checked the validity of Gibson’s claims before publishing the book. It was pulled from shelves.

Yet another Australian embroiled in peddling dangerous nutrition information was paleo diet proponent and celebrity chef Pete Evans. In 2015, Evans released his book . It was co-authored with nutritionist Helen Padarin and pro-paleo blogger Charlotte Carr.

The book contained a recipe for a , consisting of bone broth and liver. The recipe as dangerous.

The president of the Public Health Association of Australia said it contained over ten times the safe daily amount of vitamin A for babies. The book’s publication was delayed – and the recipe modified – before the book was released.

Typos, misprints and mistakes

Not all cookbook errors and controversies are as serious as plagiarism or misinformation. Sometimes, a simple typo can cause a lot of problems.

In 2010, Penguin Australia they would be pulping 7,000 copies of its recently released book, The Pasta Bible. They had been made aware of a typo in a recipe for tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto. Instead of calling for black pepper to finish off the dish, the recipe read “salt and freshly ground black people”.

This was a costly mistake – however, it appears the controversy actually boosted sales of the book. Sales were the following fortnight.

Whose recipe is it anyway?

Cookbooks are bound to attract these sorts of issues, particularly questions about plagiarism. Recipe copyright is , recipes are designed to be shared, and often similar dishes can spring up in tandem.

What the accusations against Bellamy, Haigh and Nelson highlight is the potential for well known cookbook authors, celebrity chefs and influencers to profit from the labour of others without acknowledgement. To do so is exploitative. When labour and knowledge is stolen from recipe writers without such a high profile and social capital, who have no access to recourse, it is especially so. (Obviously, that’s not the case with these accusations, which have become public.)

Recipe development is difficult. An excellent cook or chef is not necessarily also an excellent recipe developer. Developing clear, concise, reproducible recipes is a real skill, which recipe developers hone over many years, with plenty of recipe testing.

The current popularity of influencer cookbooks creates a pressure to publish quickly, to profit on short-lived fame or popular gimmicks. We may see more controversies arise.

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UOW academics exercise academic freedom by providing expert commentary, opinion and analysis on a range of ongoing social issues and current affairs. This expert commentary reflects the views of those individual academics and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy positions of the 51²è¹Ý.