Remember The Sneaky Chef? Missy Chase Lapine, "The Sneaky Chef" author I lambasted for getting Daniel Boulud to connect ideas like "spinach" and "brownies"? Well, now I feel totally sorry for her because Jessica "Deceptively Delicious" Seinfeld has blatantly ripped her off and, thanks to her good looks, public profile and Very Rich Husband, will almost certainly get away with it.
If you need to catch up on the backstory, USA Today sums it up nicely this morning. The fracas got going more than a week ago, after Seinfeld appeared on Oprah. Unsurprisingly, her publishers at HarperCollins watched the printing presses hit warp speed shortly thereafter and the press acted as if Lapine's book -- released last spring through Running Press, with an identical concept -- didn't exist. And to their mind, it didn't; "The Sneaky Chef" has sold about 150,000 copies to date, a pretty terrific number for a cookbook but not enough to register on the cultural radar.
To me, the most fascinating element of the story isn't Did Seinfeld Know? (Of course she did. She didn't write "Deceptively Delicious" at Yaddo) or Did She Steal? (probably not outright, but Lapine's proposal was out for more than a year before Seinfeld's book was published and it's ridiculous to think that she didn't have the chance to look at it.)
The real story here is, in the age of celebrity chefs, what it takes to become a cookbook author. Lapine (publisher of Eating Well magazine, is working with Beech-Nut baby foods) submitted her proposal to HarperCollins twice. Seinfeld (no writing or food background, known as a fashion plate and celebrity wife) submits her proposal two months after Lapine's was rejected and finds success.
Better book? Not bloody likely. Better marketing opportunity? Hell, yes. While Lapine is easy on the eyes, Seinfeld is younger, sexier, has a husband with a big movie coming out next month and -- most of all -- will fit into the cookbook category that gets the most shelf space at Borders Books: Famous Chefs and Restaurants.
As a Jezebel commenter said this morning, "All this about a cookbook that teaches you how to make you kids hate you by lying to them about why their favorite foods taste so awful."
Jerry's a thief too, it runs in the family ...
Posted by: Big Bomb | October 22, 2007 at 09:17 PM
Right now, Jerry is telling Jessica, "what were you thinking? I told you to change at least TWO ingredients in each of Lapine's recipe. What? You couldn't just add a little cinnamon to each one?"
Posted by: Sue | October 23, 2007 at 11:48 AM
Have not read Lapine's book but perused "Deceptively Delicious" at Costco last week. While Mrs. Seinfeld may be sneaking veggies into the kids' food, she forgot to add flavor. Dreadful book! What does Ms. Lapine have to say about all this?
Posted by: MaMaSan | October 23, 2007 at 01:48 PM