Saturday, October 20, 2007
Similarities Between Seinfeld and Lapine Cookbooks - And Some Web Sites
Cookbooks rarely make the news, but a pair of them did in the New York Times. Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica has come out with a cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious," for the parents of fussy eaters, with suggestions for hiding healthy ingredients in foods kids will eat. An appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" helped launch the title. But, apparently, publisher HarperCollins had received a proposal for a very similar book twice (author Missy Chase Lapine eventually found another publisher) before bringing out Seinfeld's, and a few of the odd recipes seem to have appeared in both:
Spinach in brownies? I did a search on brownies, spinach, and then added cocoa (because there are some savory spinach "brownie" recipes). Here's one using a brownie mix, or another using a box mix from January 2006.
So, maybe the similarities aren't not coincidence, or maybe it is. Maybe they both ... found some inspiration in online research from the work of others, because not all these unusual ideas are apparently that unusual.
The basic concepts for several of Ms. Lapine’s recipes — spinach in brownies, avocado in chocolate pudding and sweet potato in grilled cheese sandwiches — also appear in recipes offered by Ms. Seinfeld.Perhaps they both looked on the web. As an example, after reading this article, I searched for avocado and chocolate pudding on Google. The first match was for a recipe on the web site of the California Avocado Commission, and there are other matches, like this one on KidsHealth for Parents, where the recipe was reviewed in June of 2006, or a version with carob and maple syrup here, in March 2006.
Ms. Lapine, a mother of two daughters who lives in Irvington, N.Y., said that when she compared her book with Ms. Seinfeld’s, she was “uncomfortable” seeing that “those unusual combinations that I thought would brand me as a lunatic showed up here, too.”
Ms. Seinfeld said she had not looked at “The Sneaky Chef,” but noted that any similarities were likely to have stemmed from the use of commonly accepted children’s favorites.
Spinach in brownies? I did a search on brownies, spinach, and then added cocoa (because there are some savory spinach "brownie" recipes). Here's one using a brownie mix, or another using a box mix from January 2006.
So, maybe the similarities aren't not coincidence, or maybe it is. Maybe they both ... found some inspiration in online research from the work of others, because not all these unusual ideas are apparently that unusual.
Labels: Jessica Seinfeld, Missy Chase Lapine, spinach browhn
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THIS IS A HUGE DEAL!
Point #1 - Ms. Lapine showed her book the HarperCollins 6 months before Ms. Seinfeld. Ms. Lapine's publisher had already made Ms. Seinfeld's publisher change the book cover (which easily resembled Ms. Lapine's book cover).
Point #2 - Ms. Seinfeld has the same agent from the William Morris Agency as the Harvard sophomore student who recently lost her book contract for copying another's novel.
Coincidence? You be the judge!
Point #1 - Ms. Lapine showed her book the HarperCollins 6 months before Ms. Seinfeld. Ms. Lapine's publisher had already made Ms. Seinfeld's publisher change the book cover (which easily resembled Ms. Lapine's book cover).
Point #2 - Ms. Seinfeld has the same agent from the William Morris Agency as the Harvard sophomore student who recently lost her book contract for copying another's novel.
Coincidence? You be the judge!
Posted by 
: 3:18 PM Permalink
: 3:18 PM Permalink
Oh, my, let's point out a few things. Six months before? That's no proof of anything - particularly when some of the "distinctive" recipes were already available in various places on the web, as I showed. In the publishing business, I've seen too many cases where people separately came up with exactly the same off-beat idea at roughly the same time. Coudl make you wonder? Sure. Proof that there was something going on? Hardly. Why not just use the original author? Or why suddenly think, "Great idea, don't like the author ... oh, wait! I've got it! Let's ask Jerry Seinfeld's wife!" Given that she wasn't already a cookbook author nor associated with this particular food topic, this seems a stretch.
As to the second point, shame on yet another anonymous poster for this bit of backhanded insult and attempt to damn by proximity. The same agent? Big flipping deal. Does the poster even know what agents do? Any understanding that it was a book packager that may have been more "involved"? Because the agent did business with someone who committed plagiarism, then everyone the agent does business with must be suspect for plagiarism. Sorry, but the poster knows apparently nothing about the publishing business, and the points leading to conclusion have no logical support.
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As to the second point, shame on yet another anonymous poster for this bit of backhanded insult and attempt to damn by proximity. The same agent? Big flipping deal. Does the poster even know what agents do? Any understanding that it was a book packager that may have been more "involved"? Because the agent did business with someone who committed plagiarism, then everyone the agent does business with must be suspect for plagiarism. Sorry, but the poster knows apparently nothing about the publishing business, and the points leading to conclusion have no logical support.
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