Cookbook author Nagi Maehashi has accused influencer and baker Brooke Bellamy of plagiarising two of her recipes, including a five-step method for caramel slice.
Bellamy — founder of Brooki Bakehouse — has rejected the claim, posting to Instagram that her book Bake with Brooki is made up of recipes “created over many years”.
Books by both authors are shortlisted for the Australian Book Industry Awards.
But can you own a recipe? And what are the protocols if you take inspiration from another cookbook author’s work?
Maehashi isn’t alleging copyright infringement, but plagiarism — which isn’t a legal claim, intellectual property law expert Professor John Swinson says.
“She can’t sue for plagiarism, and so that’s a claim in the court of public opinion.”
Can a recipe be protected by copyright?
Copyright doesn’t protect an idea, or facts, but it can protect how they’re expressed.
The two recipes, which Maehashi posted side-by-side, have identical ingredients and measurements, and similar steps, but they’re “not very expressive”, Professor Swinson, from the University of Queensland, says.
If there’s elaboration on a recipe, like in a cooking show, it can be protected — but that doesn’t stop someone else from expressing the same recipe in a different way.
“You can’t protect a cake or cookie. You can only protect how it’s expressed, not the end result, and most recipes are just factual instructions,” Professor Swinson says.
But crediting an author’s work is protected in the Copyright Act, intellectual property lawyer Isabella Alexander says.
Moral rights include the right to attribution, right against false attribution, and right of integrity.
“Chefs will generally not copy from other chefs. Or if they do, they’ll attribute it. So, you will quite often see in recipe books one chef saying this is my version of Nigella Lawson’s chocolate cake, for example,” she says.
“Another interesting point that Nagi has made in her allegation is she wasn’t given credit for her recipes.
“One of the moral rights that authors have is the right to be attributed as an author. And that’s often just as important for authors as a fact their work has been copied.”
Vicki Huang, Associate Professor of Law at Deakin University, says because plagiarism isn’t unlawful, it’s regulated by social and industry norms.
“There can be reputational harms within an industry for copying or plagiarising other people’s work,” she says.
“Stand-up comedy is a good example, where other comedians will call out another for ‘stealing’ jokes.
“These are all valid forms of regulating plagiarism and are needed because not all types of copying or plagiarism are protected by copyright law.”
A cookbook author’s code
Kirsten Tibballs is the host of TV show The Chocolate Queen and author of three cookbooks.
The Melbourne chocolatier and pastry chef — whose own caramel slice recipe includes a chocolate ganache and choc chips — says an accessible, classic recipe can be more difficult to develop than one that’s complex.
“I’ve been known to test recipes up to 20 times and make minor tweaks each time I make it to ensure that when someone invests in one of my recipes, it’s going to be perfect every time, so there’s a lot of work involved in that,” she says.
She says it’s “well-known” and a common courtesy in the industry to acknowledge your influence or inspiration.
“All of this coming to light highlights for both cookbook readers and people who love cooking, but also recipe creators, there is a very fine line, but it does need to be respected,” she says.
“We need to ask for permission first, and if that permission isn’t granted, you then need to come up with your own concept or your own version of that recipe to then go to publish.”
One way to protect a recipe is to make it a trade secret – like KFC’s secret herbs and spices.
But that doesn’t help a cookbook author.
“There are cases where it’s quite commonly known and it’s [a recipe] very well-protected,” Tibballs says.
“I’m one that once I give the recipe away, I then work on something new. You always hope that other authors respect what you’ve done and enjoy what you do and are inspired by what you do.”
Do customers care?
At Brooki Bakehouse in Brisbane on Wednesday, customer Seth Vayu said the idea a recipe could be plagiarised felt “a little bit ludicrous”.
“People have recipes at home … you look online and there’s a million variations,” he says.
Tamara Paul came all the way from Sydney for a Brooki cookie.
“I woke up and saw the allegations and thought ‘Damn, now my cookies have controversy’ but I still wanted to try them,” she says.
Chef and food consultant Alison Alexander says claims of this kind aren’t new, but it’s unusual for them to be made publicly.
Maehashi said the similarities between her caramel slice and baklava recipes, and the ones published in Bake with Brooki, were a “slap in the face to every author who puts in the hard work to create original content”.
Bellamy claims she had been making and selling the caramel slice for four years before Maehashi posted it to her website RecipeTin Eats in 2020.
“It’s a big step to take, to stick your head out and say, ‘Right enough, I’m going to do something about this’ but she obviously feels so strongly about it,” Alexander says.
“I think all those years of work for her have probably tipped that scale.”
