Australian Influencer Brooke Bellamy Accused of Recipe Plagiarism

The culinary community is abuzz as two cookbook authors, Nagi Maehashi and Sally McKenney, accuse Australian influencer Brooke Bellamy of plagiarism in her cookbook "Bake with Brooki." Maehashi claims direct similarities to her recipes, while Bellamy counters these claims and asserts her original creations.

 

In a controversy that has stirred the culinary world, TikTok influencer Brooke Bellamy stands accused of copying recipes from two notable cookbook authors, Nagi Maehashi and Sally McKenney. Maehashi, the founder of the highly visited food website RecipeTin Eats, claims that Bellamy's recent cookbook, "Bake with Brooki," features recipes that bear "word-for-word similarities" to her own creations.

Bellamy, who operates three Brooki Bakehouse branches in Queensland and has amassed a following of two million on TikTok, denies these allegations, asserting that her book includes "100 recipes I have created over many years." She further defends her work by stating that one recipe in question was developed before Maehashi published hers.

The drama escalated when Maehashi revealed that a reader identified "remarkable similarities" between her caramel slice recipe and a corresponding recipe in Bellamy's cookbook. Upon further investigation, Maehashi claims to have found additional resemblances, such as with her baklava recipe, offering a side-by-side analysis to substantiate her arguments.

Having launched RecipeTin Eats in 2014, Maehashi's website boasts an impressive monthly readership of 45 million. In contrast, Bellamy’s “Bake with Brooki,” published in October 2024, has achieved significant commercial success, selling A$4.6 million worth of copies.

On the legal front, Maehashi has sought counsel and has reached out to Penguin Random House Australia, Bellamy's publisher, regarding her concerns. Maehashi expressed that their response felt like a "legal intimidation" tactic, insisting that it felt unjust for her original work to be profited from without proper credit.

Both the publisher and Bellamy vehemently deny the accusations, with Penguin Random House asserting that the recipes were indeed written by Bellamy herself. In an effort to resolve the situation amicably, Bellamy stated she had proposed to remove the contested recipes from future reprints, which she communicated to Maehashi.

Despite her denial, Bellamy expressed her admiration for Maehashi and underlined the collaborative nature of recipe development in today's culinary landscape, which often draws inspiration from various food creators.

Adding to the controversy, Sally McKenney, who runs the popular website Sally's Baking Addiction, also accused Bellamy of mirroring her vanilla cake recipe featured in the cookbook. McKenney emphasized on social media that original recipe creators deserve recognition, particularly in commercially successful cookbooks.

Both Maehashi's and Bellamy's cookbooks have been shortlisted for the prestigious Australian Book Industry Awards, making the outcome of this dispute particularly compelling for fans and the culinary community alike.