Domestic copycat? Nigella accused of pinching her recipes from rival cookbook
IMITATION may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it appears to have landed Nigella Lawson in hot water with her viewers.
The Domestic Goddess was forced to confirm that recipes in her latest show are her own after viewers accused her of plagiarising them.
Miss Lawson, 57, cooked a sunken chocolate amaretto cake, mussels with ditaloni pasta and a radicchio and a chestnut and blue cheese salad this week in her BBC2 series, At My Table.
But eagle-eyed viewer Kathryn Grant pointed out that a book written in 2005 by River Café founders Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray featured strikingly similar recipes and nearly identical ingredients.
Having flicked through her own copy of River Café: Two Easy to prove the remarkable likeness, Miss Grant went as far as to suggest Miss Lawson had simply ‘taken’ them. She tweeted: ‘Is it pure coincidence that all the recipes on @Nigella_Lawson #AtMyTable tonight are basically taken from the “River Café: Two Easy” cook book?!’ The TV chef said: ‘None of them are.’ Miss Lawson added: ‘I always always credit when I’m inspired by other recipes or cooks. Always.’
However, she had to elaborate after being shown photos of the similar recipes from the River Café cookbook, admitting: ‘It is a coincidence. Now you’ve shown me, I am somewhat amazed. I don’t know these recipes of theirs.’
After being shown Miss Gray and Miss Rogers’ recipe for ditaloni pasta with mussels and white wine, she explained: ‘That short pasta is traditional with mussels btw, but I agree many similarities.’
The viewer added: ‘They’ve all been tweeked with your own stamp – but surely an homage at least?!’
A representative for the River Café declined to comment last night.
‘I agree, many similarities’