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I watched the episode of Oprah a few weeks ago that had Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica, talking about her new get-your-kids-to-eat cookbook Deceptively Delicious. Basically, she purees up the good stuff her kids should be eating (broccoli, cauliflower, other veggies) and secretly puts them inside foods that her kids really love (chicken fingers, chocolate chip cookies, etc). But is this a new thing?
I ask this because I had heard about doing something similar, and a woman who wrote and published another cookbook is wondering if the two projects are too similar. Missy Chase Lapine, author of The Sneaky Chef (published in April by Running Press), says that her publicists pitched the idea to Oprah five times with no luck, and then six months later Jessica Seinfeld is on the show with her cookbook doing very similar recipes and cooking tips, and that Oprah it was being "touted as an entirely new technique."
I have to sort of agree with this last part. While watching that show I just didn't understand Oprah's reaction. She acted as if the woman had just found the cure for cancer (I think she said at one point that the recipes were "life-changing"). And the audience went crazy too, even though they weren't given free cars. (Winfrey hasn't commented yet, but Jessica Seinfeld's agent says that she is "above reproach."
Readers, what do you think? Are the two books too similar or is the cookbook world big enough for two similar books published so close to each other?
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10-26-2007 @12:02AM Hello said... My sister has been hiding veggies in my nephews food long before Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld became Mrs. Jerry Seinfeld. This idea is not a new one. Deceptively Delicious was probably published only because it was written by Jerry Seinfelds wife. Sneaky Chef author should thank Jessica Seinfeld.If it wasn't for the controversy we would not be talking about Sneaky Chef.
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10-26-2007 @11:29AM Dove said... Ed was not being serious, as is noted by his use of emoticon.....
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10-26-2007 @12:54PM Barbara said... I wrote a huge summary post on this issue on my own blog, with links to as many relevant articles as I could, along with a synopsis of what is going on, quotes from those on center stage of the affair, analysis of what plagiarism is why Seinfeld hasn't committed it, discussion of copyright law in regards to recipes, and how copyright infringement may have happened, but will bloody hard to prove.
The post is here: http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/2007/10/25/the-cookbook-caper-so-did-jessica-seinfeld-ahem-borrow-some-ideas-from-missy-chase-lapine/
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10-26-2007 @3:31PM judymom said... I am a mom of 3 boys. First, let me touch on the book issue. Personally, and unfortunately, I do believe celebrity status will get you many things in life more than a non-celebrity.
Second, my boys ate everything I made for dinner. As a single parent, I couldn't afford, and wouldn't give each child what they WANTED to eat. I made dinner for the family. They knew the rule "Eat, or go to bed hungry". Again, they ate everything. As my boys became teenagers, two of the three became vegetarian, and the other eats very little meat. Hmmm, boys liking vegetables?
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10-28-2007 @9:11PM notsosane said... what's important is your kid's nutrition, if for the first few years of their lives you have to sneak things to them, then so be it. however, after a while you have to start introducing them to healthy eating habits, slowly if necessary. i don't see anything wrong with parents who sneak vegetables to their kids; they are a lot better than parents who consistently feed their kids fast food.
really, it's different with every kid anyway. i have always eaten most anything, but my cousin hates almost everything. except carrots. there was a point where she wouldnt even eat bread and meat together. every kid is different, i guess.
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10-29-2007 @8:39PM Ceci said... Hello, If anyone had Marlene Sorosky's Desert cookbook, they'll find the recipe for chocolate cake with BEETS. So Sorry, Jessica, you didn't come up with this idea!!!!!!
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10-31-2007 @12:12AM Maria Croft said... at least this has opened up a discussion on feeding children healthy food to counteract all the junk food peddling we see everyday. I bought Deceptively Delicious, and made one of the recipes for my daughter's preschool class (it was a crumb-cake fruit bar with spinach) and they LOVED it - the kids were begging for more. In addition to spinach, it had whole grains and all-fruit rather than jelly. Hardly "junk food" as one poster called it. Also, in the first chapter or two, she advices parents to serve the veggies in their whole form also - the purees "warm up" the palate for the taste of the new veggies, so that when the child tastes it in its whole form, they are more likely to enjoy it. Since trying some of these recipes, I have noticed my daughter eating veggies she hadn't liked since she was 6 months old. As for the copycat conspiracy, that's as old as the publishing business.
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11-02-2007 @1:13AM Admit It said... Ms. Seinfeld has a NEW book out; it’s called, “The Joy of Cooking with Cinnimon.” Early readings show that the recipes are similar to well-known cookbook, “The Joy of Cooking,” except that cinnimon has been added to every recipe. Jerry Seinfeld has already scheduled for Letterman next week.
Let’s take a quick look at the William Morris agent who brought Jessica Seinfeld to Harper Collins. Her name is Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. Name sound familiar? Probably not. But, she is also the agent of Kaavya Viswanathan who is the Harvard sophomore who was proved to have plagiarised her best selling book.
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