Ifyou'vebeen anywhere near social media in the past week,you'velikely heard about the ongoing drama between RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi and influencer Brooke Bellamy, who are locked in a battle over a fan-favourite baked good: caramel slice.
Many have been left wondering if their feud will play out in court, and if a recipe can really be plagiarised.
On April 29, Nagi took to social media to accuse Brooke, better known as Brooki Bakehouse, of plagiarising her caramel slice and baklava recipes, posting side-by-side images comparing her website with Brooke'snew cookbook,Bake With Brooki.
"Ihave nothing to gain from speaking out, but staying silent would make me complicit. BecauseI’mnot the only one,"shecaptioned the post, which has garnered over 140,000 likes."To me, the similarities are so specific and detailed that calling these a coincidence feels disingenuous,"she wrote.
"I'mspeaking up because staying silent protects this kind of behaviour. Profiting from plagiarised recipes is unethical, even if not a copyright breach, andit'sa slap in the face to every author who puts in the hard work to create original content rather than cutting corners."Nagi added that she had contacted the publisher, Penguin Random House Australia, in December 2024,and was disappointed with their lack of action.
Brooke swiftly released a statement doubling down on her decision to publish the recipes, alleging that she had created it four years before Nagi."Ido not copy otherpeople'srecipes. Like many bakers, I draw inspiration from the classics, but thecreations you see atBrooki Bakehousereflect myownexperience, taste and passion for baking, born of countless hours of my childhood spent in my home kitchen with Mum,"she wrote.
"While baking has leeway for creativity, much of it is a precise science and is necessarily formulaic.Many recipes are bound to share common steps and measures, iftheydon't, theysimplydon'twork."
"In 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,"she alleged.Brooke added that she had offered to remove the two recipes from future reprints of her book"to prevent further aggravation",citing"great respect"for Nagi.
Lawyer Mark Metzeling spoke to Lawyers Weeklyabout the drama, explaining thatNagi'sclaims may not hold up in court.
"Alist of ingredients for a recipe canbe likenedto a data set in that those itemscan'tbe swapped/changed to produce the same good,"he said."It'stherefore unlikely that a list of ingredients would be enforceable. Similarly, a written description of the method to make an item is likely to be considered unoriginal as it merely describes a known process."
He added that as recipes like caramel slice and baklava are universal and have been around for decades, Nagi cannot copyright them unless they contain a unique twist that has not been done before.
Mark mentioned that if Brooke had copied Nagi'swriting style, it couldbeclassedas copyright."The main protection, however, is enforcing how a recipe is expressed (the combination of the writing, photos, videosetc.).If the presentation of the recipe, beyond the ingredients and baking method of common baked goods, replicates a substantial part of the original layout and presentation, then lawyers for Maehashi might have a case."
He added that Brooke could defend Nagi'sallegations by provingthat shehad created the recipe from scratch."If one person came up with the same recipe for making a dish as another person and expressed it in a very similar or identical manner, that person would not infringe any copyright if they could show that they came up with the recipe completely independently,"he said.
"If Brooki can show independent creation of her recipe,recipe development,and hasexpressedher ideas independently from Nagi,as well asshow originality in the recipe, she should be able to defendNagi'sclaims."
Since Nagi'sbombshell post, Brooke was dropped as an ambassador for the Academy for EnterprisingGirls,and has been the victim of a wave of online hate.
"IknowI'vemade serious allegations…but this does not justify the personal attacksI'veseen online against Brooke Bellamy,"Nagi said in a candid video posted to her Instagram."I do not support itandI'masking you to stop."
Popular American baker Sally McKenney also came forward and alleged thather2019 recipe,"The Best Vanilla CakeI’veEver Had",was plagiarised by Brooke.
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