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Nagi Maehashi’s Shady Dig at Rival Chef Brooke Bellamy at Book Awards Amid Recipe Theft Drama!

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Celebrity cook Nagi Maehashi has taken a cryptic swipe at rival Brooke Bellamy.

The pair find themselves entangled in a controversy over plagiarism, as the founder of RecipieTin Eats has alleged that Brooke copied recipes for her book titled “Bake with Brooki.

Before winning the 2025 Australian Book industry Awards (ABIA) on Wednesday, Nagi expressed her enthusiasm about being nominated for the Illustrated Book of the Year category by posting a brief video clip.

‘Hi, it’s Nagi here from RecipeTin Eats published by Pan McMillan,’ she began the clip.

She expressed her great enthusiasm about attending the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards, as she had been nominated! Prior to displaying a copy of her book, RecipeTin Eats: Tonight, with visible excitement, she shared this news.

Later on, it seemed as if she made a discreet jab at Brooke, who had failed to attend the ceremony, even though they were both contenders for the same accolade.

She expressed her excitement, yet admitted feeling a bit jittery, she was thrilled to be surrounded by such remarkable skills,” she said.

‘What an honour to be shortlisted and having a great night.’

Nagi departed from the ABIAs, which took place in Melbourne on Wednesday, carrying the accolade for the Illustrated Book of the Year for her cookbook titled “RecipeTin Eats: Tonight”.

On the ABIA’s Instagram, a post announced that the Illustrated Book of the Year at the 2025 Australian Book Industry Awards went to ‘RecipeTin Eats: Tonight’, authored by Nagi Maehashi, published by Macmillan. A big congratulations!

The book awards night is the latest chapter in the feud between the two chefs.

Last week, Nagi ignited a flurry of controversy by alleging that an ex-travel blogger who now bakes had plagiarized her caramel slice and baklava recipes.

On April 29th, the founder of RecipeTin Eats was the first to make an allegation. She published a detailed article on her website and a sequence of slides on her Instagram account.

In December, Nagi initially expressed worries to Penguin publishing, as a reader had pointed out striking resemblances between her caramel slice recipe and the one recently published in Bake with Brooki.

Maehashi shared, “I pour a lot of hard work into creating my recipes, which I generously make available on my website for everyone to access without charge.

Reading your work being plagiarized and utilized in a book for financial gain, without giving proper credit, doesn’t simply seem unjust to me. It appears as a clear misuse and exploitation of my creative efforts.

To put it another way, the particular and extensive resemblances found in these recipes suggest an unlikely coincidence. It’s hard to believe they could be unrelated without some degree of deliberation.

Nagi added that profiting from plagiarised recipes was ‘unethical’. 

She penned, “It’s disrespectful to every writer who diligently crafts unique content instead of taking shortcuts.

She also claimed Brooke plagiarised other authors, which she did not name. 

Nevertheless, shortly following the initial accusations, famed US baker Sally McKenney, known as Sally’s Baking Addiction, alleged on Instagram that Brooke had also duplicated her vanilla cake recipe.

In two days, Nagi suggested that Brooke might have taken the recipe for Portuguese tarts almost exactly as it was written in Bill Granger’s 2006 cookbook.

Nagi pointed out to East Coast Media, “The phrasing in the method section of the recipe seems incredibly similar as if it’s been copied nearly verbatim.

‘To me, it is the biggest and strongest example of plagiarism that I have seen by this author.’  

As a seasoned lifestyle connoisseur, I must share an intriguing development in the culinary world. In response to recent claims, both Penguin and Brooke have refuted the allegations, asserting that they’ve been sharing their unique recipes long before Maehashi’s publications graced our bookshelves. The baker herself has stated that she’s been lovingly crafting and selling her culinary creations for years prior to this point.

Bellamy stated that none of the 100 recipes in his book, which he developed over numerous years, were copied from elsewhere.

2016 marked the year I launched my very own bakery. Since October of that same year, I’ve been developing and selling my unique recipes commercially.

Brooke expressed her profound concern about the accusations, as well as her dismay over being targeted with harmful comments on social media.

‘I do not copy other people’s recipes,’ she said. 

At my Brisbane bakery, Brooki Bakehouse, my pastries mirror my personal journey, flavor preferences, and love for baking, nurtured by countless hours I spent as a child in our family kitchen with Mom.

Instead of maintaining that she didn’t copy the recipes, she promptly agreed to exclude them from future editions to avoid any continued disagreements.

After facing harsh comments from online trolls, Brooke chose to retreat to her residence in Brisbane and made a request for privacy. As a response, she decided to make her personal Instagram account private.

‘The past 24 hours have been extremely overwhelming,’ she said in a statement last week.

I’ve faced negative attention from various media outlets beyond my home and workplace, and have experienced cyberbullying. This has been extremely upsetting not only for my coworkers but also for my immediate family, particularly my children.

Baking provides room for creativity, but it also involves a great deal of precision and follows specific formulas due to its scientific nature.

‘Many recipes are bound to share common steps and measures: if they don’t, they simply don’t work.

As a devoted admirer, I’m currently focused on safeguarding the well-being of the remarkable crew at Brooki Bakehouse, as well as nurturing the health and happiness of my beloved family.

In the video posted on Instagram, Nagi similarly urged social media users, admirers, and well-wishers to respect Bellamy’s privacy and refrain from bothering him.

‘Please stop the trolling,’ Maehashi said.

What I’m saying may appear strong, but it doesn’t give anyone the right to launch personal attacks against Brooke Bellamy on the internet. That’s uncalled for and unfair.

I strongly object to it and kindly request you to discontinue. It’s important to note that only a tiny fraction of internet users behave in such a manner. The vast majority of online individuals are pleasant, enjoyable, and ordinary folks.

Feel free to express your views, engage in passionate discussions, back Brooki or myself, voice your disagreement with either of us, even think we’re less than perfect, but remember to maintain a respectful tone. Let’s avoid any form of trolling or offensive remarks.

Brooke Bellamy is the one who wrote the recipes for Bake with Brooki, and our client respectfully disagrees with your client’s claims about these allegations.

As a lifestyle expert, I found myself stepping down from my role as an ambassador for the government’s Academy for Enterprising Girls, following a bit of a public spat over aesthetic food presentation, which I like to refer to as the “beauty-plating controversy.” It was a tough decision, but I believe it aligns more closely with my personal values and commitment to promoting a balanced approach to nutrition and cooking.

At the same time, Nagi was criticized by renowned chef Luke Mangan for not giving him proper credit for a recipe he claimed she had used without acknowledgment in one of her cookbooks.

As a devoted admirer, I’m thrilled to share that RecipeTin Eats boasts an impressive following of 1.5 million individuals on Instagram. Furthermore, Maehashi is not only a popular figure there but also the author of acclaimed cookbooks titled Dinner and Tonight, which have won numerous awards.

In no time at all, Brooke gained worldwide fame following her daily TikTok video shares, each garnering several million views.

She is best known for her cookies and has opened pop-up stores in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

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2025-05-08 04:34

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