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.
In her BBC2 series At My Table this week, TV chef Nigella Lawson (pictured) cooked a sunken chocolate amaretto cake, mussels with ditaloni pasta and a radicchio and a chestnut and blue cheese salad. But an eagle-eyed viewer quickly pointed out that a cookbook written in 2005 by River Café co-founders Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers featured strikingly similar recipes
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.’
This week’s At My Table featured Nigella’s sunken chocolate amaretto cake (pictured left), which bears a striking resemblance to one written about in River Cafe: Two Easy (right)
She also whisked up a radicchio and a chestnut and blue cheese salad (pictured left), which viewers pointed out was extremely similar to the one written about in the 2005 book (right)
Having flicked through her own copy of the book, even Nigella was unable to deny the resemblance between hers and River Cafe’s recipes. Pictured left is her mussels with ditaloni pasta and right is River Cafe’s ditaloni, mussels and white wine
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.
Writing on social media, she asked: ‘Is it pure coincidence that all the recipes on @Nigella_Lawson #AtMyTable tonight are basically taken from the ‘River Cafe Two Easy’ cook book?!’
Miss Lawson (pictured), 57, replied: ‘None of them are’ and ‘I always always credit when I’m inspired by other recipes or cooks. Always.’ She then added: ‘It is a coincidence. Now you’ve shown me, I am somewhat amazed.’