RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi has called for “personal attacks” online against baking sensation Brooke Bellamy to end, after accusing her of plagiarism.
On Tuesday, Maehashi claimed Bellamy — founder of Brooki Bakehouse — had copied her recipes for caramel slice and baklava in bestselling cookbook Bake with Brooki.
Nagi Maehashi says the caramel slice recipe in Bake with Brooki (right) is similar to her own (left). (Supplied: RecipeTin Eats)
She posted side-by-side screenshots of the ingredients, quantities and instructions from the two books, claiming the similarities amounted to plagiarism.
American baker Sally McKenny, also known as Sally’s Baking Addiction, subsequently claimed one of her recipes had been plagiarised in Bellamy’s book.
Bellamy has refuted these claims, maintaining she does “not copy other people’s recipes”, adding that the situation had become “extremely overwhelming”.
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In a video posted to Instagram Thursday evening, Maehashi pleaded with people to “please stop the trolling” of Bellamy.
“I know I’ve made serious allegations,” she said.
“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.”
Nagi Maehashi claims two of her recipes have been plagiarised in the Bake with Brooki cookbook. (AAP: Jono Searle)
‘Keep it respectful’
Maehashi acknowledged it was a “very small percentage” of people who were attacking Bellamy online.
“Share your opinions, have heated debates, support Brooki, support me, disagree with both of us, think we’re pathetic,” she said.
“But just keep it respectful.
“No trolling, no hateful comments.“
Nagi Maehashi has called for an end to ‘personal attacks’ of Bellamy. (Photo: Alan Benson)
Maehashi emphasised this was a “business dispute”, and her legal allegations were against Penguin Random House Australia, which published Bellamy’s book.
“We’ve got to be respectful about this,” she said.
The ABC reported on Thursday that Bellamy had been dropped as an ambassador for a federally funded program to teach girls to “think like an entrepreneur” in the wake of the plagiarism claims.
In response to the allegations, Bellamy has said her recipes were “created over many years”.
She added she had been making and selling her caramel slice for four years before Maehashi posted the recipe in 2020.
“While baking has leeway for creativity, much of it is a precise science and is necessarily formulaic,” she said in a statement.
“Many recipes are bound to share common steps and measures: if they don’t, they simply don’t work.“
