Nagi Maehashi has turned in her pick for the 2025 Federal Election, but not just for the sake of democracy.
The RecipeTin Eats star, who is in the midst of a plagiarism row with former travel blogger-turned-baker Brooke Bellamy, took a break from the online controversy to vote on Saturday.
And she shared a very delicious incentive for other Aussies to vote as well, posting a picture of herself eating a democracy sausage to Instagram.
'Australia knows how to make people vote,' she captioned the image, which saw her holding a snag loaded with onion, mustard and tomato sauce as she added an 'I voted' badge to the post.
It comes after the cookbook author and blogger took a stand against 'trolls' who have been attacking fellow cook Bellamy amid their plagiarism row.
Maehashi sparked a firestorm when she alleged former travel blogger-turned-baker Bellamy copied two of her recipes for caramel slice, and baklava in her book, Bake with Brooki.
Nagi Maehashi has turned in her pick for the 2025 Federal Election, but not just for the sake of democracy
And she shared a very delicious incentive for other Aussies to vote as well, posting a picture of herself eating a democracy sausage to Instagram
On Thursday, the row took a surprise turn when Maehashi posted a video to Instagram begging her fans and supporters to leave Bellamy alone.
'Please stop the trolling,' the Australian cook said in the clip.
'Now I know I've made serious allegations, budget limo jersey city but this does not justify the personal attacks that I've seen online against Brooke Bellamy.
'I do not support it, and I'm asking you to stop. I know that this is just a very, very small percentage of people online. I know the majority of people are good, fun, normal people.
'You know, share your opinions, have heated debates, support Brooki, support me, disagree with both of us, think we're pathetic, whatever you want, but just keep it respectful, no trolling, no hateful comments.'
Maehashi went on: 'Fundamentally, at the end of the day, we're talking recipes, and this is a business dispute.
'You know, these are legal allegations that I've made against Penguin, a corporation, allegations made by my company.
'So it just, we've gotta be respectful about this, you know, it's the RecipeTin way.'
The RecipeTin Eats star, who is in the midst of a plagiarism row with former travel blogger-turned-baker Brooke Bellamy, took a break from the online controversy to vote on Saturday
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The important fact about recipegate Nagi can't ignore
It comes after online baking sensation Bellamy locked down her social media amid a furious backlash over the plagiarism row which has blown up around her.
In the wake of the blockbuster claims, other chefs and authors have also now come forward with similar allegations.
US-based baker Sally McKenney of Sally's Baking Addiction fame claimed on Instagram Bellamy had also copied her vanilla cake recipe after Maehashi reached out to alert her about it.
'Original recipe creators who put in the work to develop and test recipes deserve credit—especially in a best-selling cookbook,' McKenney said.
Pregnant mother-of-one Bellamy rejected the claim, posting to Instagram that her book Bake with Brooki is made up of recipes 'created over many years'.
She has denied the plagiarism allegations and insisted she has been making the caramel slice recipe since 2016, re-posting a snap of the creation she made at that time.
Bellamy has now bunkered down at her $3.6million three-bedroom home in Brisbane and issued a plea for privacy as she turned her personal Instagram account private after trolls flooded her page with savage attacks.
'The past 24 hours have been extremely overwhelming,' she said in a statement.
'I have had media outside my home and business, and have been attacked online. It has been deeply distressing for my colleagues and my young family,' she continued.
'While baking has leeway for creativity, much of it is a precise science and is necessarily formulaic. Many recipes are bound to share common steps and measures: if they don't, they simply don't work.
'My priority right now is to ensure the welfare of the fantastic team at Brooki Bakehouse and that of my family.'
Maehashi said Penguin denied the allegations, saying via their lawyers: 'Our client respectfully rejects your client's allegations and confirms that the recipes in [Bake with Brooki] were written by Brooke Bellamy.'