Martha Stewart

‘s headlining event at Vivid in Sydney was not one to miss, with

the iconic cookbook author

lending her opinion on everything from millennial

burnout


to

Meghan Markle

.


She joined Australian author Benjamin Law at the ICC on Wednesday night

, and took


a moment to

lend her expert opinion

on the nature of plagiarism in the industry amid the ongoing caramel slice drama between food influencers

Nagi Maehashi and Brooke Bellamy

.



Nagi vs Brooke



In short, Nagi, creator of the popular food blog RecipeTin Eats, made a claim that Brooke Bellamy of Brooki’s Bakehouse fame had plagiarized her recipes for caramel slice and baklava in her new cookbook.


The drama has divided Australians, with many taking Nagi’s side while others explained how difficult it is to prove that a recipe has

been plagiarized


.


Nagi shared the allegation on

Instagram

in April, revealing that she had tried contacting the publishers of

Bake With Brooki


for months with no success.


“I’m speaking up because staying silent protects this kind of behaviour,” she wrote. “Profiting from plagiarized recipes is unethical, even if not a copyright breach, and it’s a slap in the face to every author who puts in the hard work to create original content rather than cutting corners.”


Brooke responded with a statement doubling down on the originality of her recipes. “I do not copy other people’s recipes. Like many bakers, I draw inspiration from the classics

, but 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 Mom,” she declared.



Martha weighs in



Martha added her two cents to the

feud,


after being asked if she had ever had any of her thousands of recipes stolen.


“Probably. But I have so many recipes,”

she


replied. “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. They are used and changed,”

she


added.



“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. So unless


they


are word for word, you can’t say


they’re


yours.”



Sydneysider



Martha has created an incredibly successful lifestyle brand over the years, with over 100 cookbooks published, a multitude of TV shows and an enduring friendship with rapper Snoop Dogg.


She visited Australia for the first time since 2019, and shared just how

special


the trip was for her in a candid

Instagram

post.



“Last evening in

Sydney


I spoke to a large audience of approximately 3500 Aussies, interviewed on stage by Benjamin Law,” she wrote.


“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.”


She also revealed how she manages her

incredibly busy


schedule,


before jokingly making a dig at millennial work culture.


When asked how she avoided

burnout


, Martha quipped: “I don’t call it


burnout


, I


call it burning up.”


As for any advice for millennials going through

burnout


, she replied: ”


Poor


poor millennials. I have no sympathy.”




To learn more about Martha’s fascinating life, see below…