A war of words has erupted between two of Australia’s most influential cooks after serious allegations of plagiarism were leveled over a multi-million dollar recipe book. Nagi Maehashi, whose RecipeTin Eats website is one of Australia’s most beloved recipe sites, alleges some recipes contained in wildly popular TikToker Brooke Bellamy’s new book, Baking With Brooki, contained extensive "word-for-word" similarities to recipes created by her and other authors.
Maehashi took to her website on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, telling followers that she had made copyright infringement allegations against “blue-chip publisher” Penguin Random House Australia. She said the best-seller contained plagiarized recipes from other cooks, including two of her own — for caramel slice and baklava.
“To me, the similarities between the recipes in question are so specific and detailed that calling these a coincidence feels disingenuous,” Maehashi stated. “There are also recipes from other authors, including 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, herself a best-selling author, described the situation as a blatant exploitation of her work, arguing that income from her RecipeTin Eats site helps fund her food bank, Recipe Tin Meals, making it “ethically indefensible.”
According to reports, Baking With Brooki, which retails for nearly $50 a book, had sold 92,849 copies in less than six months, equating to $4.6 million in sales. Bellamy, who has one million followers on her @brookibakehouse Instagram page, responded in a post, denying the allegations.
“I did not plagiarise any recipes in my book which consists of 100 recipes I have created over many years, since falling in love with baking as a child and growing up baking with my mum in our home kitchen,” she wrote. “On 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.”
In an effort to quell the controversy, Bellamy stated she had offered to remove both recipes from future reprints to prevent “further aggravation.” She expressed her respect for Maehashi, noting, “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.”
The ongoing dispute has drawn attention from other food creators, including US-based baker Sally McKenney, who also claimed that her recipe, The Best Vanilla Cake I’ve Ever Had, published in 2019, was plagiarized in Bellamy’s book. McKenney stated that Maehashi had alerted her to the possible plagiarism months ago.
In a detailed statement, Maehashi explained that Penguin Random House had denied the allegations with a legal response of their own, claiming that the recipes in the book were written by Bellamy. Maehashi's legal team has requested for the book to be withdrawn from sale and for any future reprints to properly attribute her recipes or omit them entirely.
“Penguin – You are a top-tier publisher that is supposed to value and protect original content, and uphold the integrity of the publishing industry,” Maehashi asserted. “But to me, the way you have handled this matter has shown a disregard for the very principles you claim to stand for.”
As the situation unfolds, the ethics of alleged plagiarism have become a hot topic of discussion within the culinary community. Adam Liaw, a cookbook author and intellectual property lawyer, emphasized that copyright does not protect the recipe itself but rather the publication of the exact written form of that recipe. “There’s the legal side and there’s what is accepted within any creative discipline,” he said.
Simon Davis, a food and lifestyle publisher, highlighted the responsibility of publishers to ensure they release original content. “We supply authors with guidelines not to replicate, we spot check manuscripts against recipes on the internet, and there are lots of places during the editing process where a flag can be raised,” he noted.
Food presenter and cookbook author Alice Zaslavsky also weighed in on the challenges of originality in baking recipes. “It’s about precision: there are only so many ways you can bake a pound cake or an Anzac biscuit, but that doesn’t mean you can crib when you’re developing recipes,” she remarked.
As the allegations continue to circulate, Maehashi expressed her frustration at the lack of civil discourse from Penguin Random House, stating, “Disappointingly, instead of engaging in civil discussions with me, Penguin brought in lawyers and resorted to what felt to me legal intimidation – letters in stern, aggressive tones packed with pages of legal jargon that I struggled to make sense of.”
The controversy has sparked a broader conversation about the rights of recipe creators and the ethics of borrowing ideas within the culinary community. As the public awaits further developments, the outcome of this dispute could have significant implications for authors, publishers, and the integrity of recipe creation.
In the fast-paced world of food blogging and cookbook publishing, the lines between inspiration and plagiarism can often blur. As the community grapples with these issues, one thing remains clear: the passion for food and the stories behind each recipe are deeply personal and should be respected.
