The Sneaky Chef Sues the Seinfelds

The controversy over puréed cauliflower continues!

We’ve already discussed the controversy over Jessica Seinfeld’s kid-friendly cookbook Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, which is suspiciously similar to Missy Chase Lapine’s previously published book, The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals. And now, the saga continues. CNN reports that Lapine is suing both Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, seeking damages for copyright and trademark infringement.

Now, we all know that there are a lot of similar cookbooks out there, and YumSugar makes a good point:

After all, if a lawsuit came out every time there was a cookbook that was ‘too similar’ to another cookbook, wouldn’t that mean there would only be one baking book? One quick-suppers book? One book on bbq?

Plus, sneaking healthy food onto kids’ dinner plates is not a new idea, and in the words of literary agent Rachelle Gardner, “you can’t copyright an idea.” So it’s hard to say whether this lawsuit holds any water.

But what’s up with Jerry Seinfeld bullying Lapine on national television? According to mediabistro.com’s GalleyCat blog, Seinfeld was mighty imprudent during some TV spots. In an appearance on E!, he repeatedly referred to Lapine as a “nut job,” and when he was on Letterman, Jerry joked, “she’s a three-name woman… If you read history, many of the three-name people do become assassins… Mark David Chapman. And you know, James Earl Ray. So that’s my concern.” Yowch! That’s a low blow, and really not even that funny. Check out USA Today for more excerpts from Jerry’s tirade.

Posted by Kara Zuaro | Thursday, January 10, 2008 at 8:37am | 3 comments
Tagged with: jessica seinfeld, deceptively delicious, missy chase lapine, the sneaky chef, cnn, yumsugar, kids, cookbooks, mediabistro, galleycat, letterman, usa today, rachelle gardner, jerry seinfeld, lawsuit

Is Jessica Seinfeld a Copycat?

Readers compare her new cookbook to a similar tome published earlier.

Last week, we mentioned Jessica Seinfeld’s Oprah-supported cookbook, Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food. Since then, there’s been a bit of controversy about originality of the book—which suggests sneaking vegetable purées into food for picky kids. Another book by Missy Chase Lapine, titled The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids’ Favorite Meals, utilizes a very similar concept—and was released this past April.

Mrs. Seinfeld’s book launched earlier this month, but due to the slowpoke speed of book publishing, it’s highly unlikely that she ripped off the idea and produced her entire book in a mere six months. Jessica’s famous husband definitely gives her an arguably unfair advantage when it comes to publicity, but she ain’t a copycat.

That said, there’s still a lot of debate over which book has better recipes. Pamela Gould, author of Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family (Fork and Spoon Field Guides), writes in her Amazon review of Deceptively Delicious:

[T]he Deceptively Delicious recipes are lower in saturated fats, higher in whole grains and use less sugar and artificial items (like colored sprinkles and packaged mac-n-cheese.) Plus, this book’s purees are an improvement over those in the Sneaky Chef. … Deceptively Delicious includes 11 very simple whole veggie purees. In contrast, although 4 of the 5 Sneaky Chef veggie purees do contain whole vegetables, they are more complicated since each one contains multiple ingredients.

I can’t vouch for The Sneaky Chef, but when my husband whipped up a batch of chickpea-enhanced chocolate chip cookies from Deceptively Delicious the other night, I fell in love all over again—the cookies don’t really disguise the whole chickpeas mixed into their batter, but somehow, they were delicious.

Posted by Kara Zuaro | Tuesday, October 16, 2007 at 11:00am | 4 comments
Tagged with: jessica seinfeld, deceptively delicious, oprah, missy chase lapine, the sneaky chef, pamela gould, feeding the kids, chocolate chip cookies