Makan by Elizabeth Haigh withdrawn from publication after controversy
October 10, 2021 by JennyIn May’s New Cookbook Review, I wrote the following: “Makan: Recipes from the Heart of Singapore by Elizabeth Haigh: The author is a Singaporean-born chef who competed on MasterChef in 2011 and went on to win a Michelin star at the Hackney-based restaurant Pidgin. She has since launched Kaizen House a creative space where chefs and eaters can gather through residencies and other events as well as her own restaurant Mei Mei in Borough Market. In Makan, her debut cookbook, she draws together recipes that have been handed down through many generations of her family, from Nonya to Nonya, creating a time-capsule of a cuisine. Growing up, it was through food that Elizabeth’s mum demonstrated her affection, and the passion and love poured into each recipe is all collated here; a love letter to family cooking and traditions. I want to make every dish in this book – all I need is more hands and time.” I fell in love with this book.
Today, I have learned that major parts of this book were lifted from Sharon Wee’s Growing Up in a Nonya Kitchen: Singapore Recipes from My Mother published in 2012. See Sharon’s statement above. Haigh has no mention of any of this on her social media save a post today to be kind and mindful for #worldmentalhealthday.
New Zealand’s Cook the Books shared the following on Facebook:
A British “celebrity chef” has stolen substantial material from an earlier book by a lesser-known author. Elizabeth Haigh, in her 2021 book “Makan,” published by Bloomsbury Absolute, lifted 15 or more recipes from Sharon Wee’s book, “Growing up in a Nonya Kitchen,” published by Marshall Cavendish International (Asia) in 2012. On being presented with the evidence, Bloomsbury was persuaded to withdraw the book from distribution. Sharon Wee put out a brief statement on social media today but I think this deserves wider coverage. It is outrageous. As we all know, “recipes can’t be copyrighted,” but Haigh didn’t limit herself to lifting recipes. She also appropriated Wee’s personal memories, sometimes verbatim. (Both books are presented as collections of family recipes from Singapore.)
To do my due diligence, I bought an ebook version of Wee’s book and am comparing the titles side by side. Yes, Bloomsbury has removed Makan from their site yet there is no formal statement by the publisher or author as mentioned above. Hopefully that will come. I wanted to compare both titles for myself before reporting on this. There are very similar passages with regard to obtaining their mother’s recipes, difficulty in recreating them (finding ingredients etc) and more. There are roughly fifteen recipes that are basically the same.
Growing Up is a more in-depth memoir and a truly lovely book. Haigh’s personal writing is sparse, duplicative of certain of Wee’s passages and details more about her life as a chef and mother.
From my two hour comparison, I trust that the correct action was taken by the publisher but would love to hear what Elizabeth Haigh has to say.
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