Martha Stewart On The RecipeTin Eats v Brooke Bellamy Drama
Image: Destination NSW
Lifestyle icon and internationally renowned influencer, Martha Stewart has given her two cents on the RecipeTin Eats and Brooke Bellamy drama that’s taken Australia by storm.
The Emmy Award-winning television host and best-selling author of 101 books headlined an exclusive, one-night-only In Conversation event with writer Benjamin Law on Wednesday.
During the conversation, which spanned from burnout to Meghan Markle, Stewart was asked for her opinion on the RecipeTin Eats v Brooke Bellamy controversy.
“To what extent does one own a recipe? Have you ever had your recipe stolen, for instance?” the audience member asked.
“Probably. But I have so many recipes,” said Stewart.
“In the magazine [Martha Stewart Living] we developed thousands of recipes every year and it’s hard to develop a recipe without having a repertoire behind that recipe and I don’t think too many recipes are owned by anybody. They are handed down,” she said.
Last month, RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi accused fellow author Brooke Bellamy of stealing her recipes for caramel slice and baklava, as well as plagiarising from other cookbooks.
Bellamy has denied the claims, saying she drew “inspiration from the classics.”
“The creations you see at Brooki Bakehouse reflect my own experience, taste and passion for baking, born of countless hours of my childhood spent in my home kitchen with Mum,” she said in a statement.
Stewart says recipe plagiarism “very hard to prove”
“They [recipes] are used and changed,” said Stewart.
“And if you print somebody else’s recipe word for word in your own cookbook then that might be plagiarism but I think it’s very hard to prove who actually came up with that particular recipe.”
“Has anyone taken a recipe of yours word for word, and if so, how would you react?” asked Law.
“Who knows?” said Stewart.
It’s the first time Stewart has visited Australia since 2019.
“Last evening in Sydney I spoke to a large audience of approximately 3500 Aussies, interviewed on stage by Benjamin Law,” she wrote in an Instagram post this morning.
“Celebrating ‘Vivid Sydney’ the largest gathering of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, which is meant to encourage tourism in this beautiful city, we covered a wide variety of subjects about career, life, goals, and even gardening! The audience was lively and interested and we had a great time.”
