Book By Seinfeld's Wife Stirs Controversy
It's a challenge that many parents face: getting the kids to eat their vegetables. Jessica Seinfeld, wife of comedian Jerry Seinfeld, thought she had the answer and wrote a book called "Deceptively Delicious" about how to hide vegetables within foods to trick children into eating them.
But first out of the gate in April was "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals," by Missy Chase Lapine, published by the Running Press, an imprint owned by Perseus Books.
A former publisher of Eating Well magazine, Lapine writes about how she developed a "hiding technique" to get her picky daughters to eat what she wanted them to.
Then came "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food," by Jessica Seinfeld, published in early October by Collins, a division of HarperCollins. In it Jessica Seinfeld tells of a weekly ritual she and her husband have of creating dozens of containers of vegetable purees to be added to meals for their three kids during the week.
Readers on Amazon.com immediately began comparing the two, testing recipes to see which book they liked better. And after Seinfeld appeared on Oprah on Oct. 8, sales of the book took off.
Seinfeld said thank you to the talk show host by sending Winfrey 21 pairs of shoes.
No one is accusing anyone of plagiarism. The idea of putting pureed vegetables in kids' food has been written about elsewhere many times, and recipes on the Internet abound for such dishes as brownies spiked with spinach and pudding with avocado. But the timing of the two books has certainly stirred more than appetites.
"The overlap in recipes seems pretty suspicious," wrote one reviewer on Amazon. "It's a bit sad really."
Longtime cooking show host and co-host of "Victory Garden" on public television Sissy Biggers reviewed both books and found that the books are indeed set up the same way, but the premise both are based on is really nothing new.Photos: Celebrity Circuit
"Both of them approach the concept of hiding and deceiving your children using pureed foods and sneaking them into other recipes," she told The Early Show co-host Harry Smith. "But I have to say that I think since the cave woman, moms have been grinding, pureeing, folding, layering to get their kids to eat something."
Collins says it's just coincidence, but Perseus says some details closely mirror one another.
"Our author has also expressed some concerns about the many similarities between the books, and we understand and share her concerns," the publishing company said in a statement.
In June 2006, Seinfeld submitted her proposal with the help of an agent, and HarperCollins representatives met with her, partly because of her high profile, Ross said.
At that meeting, staff who sampled her recipes for macaroni and cheese and meatballs were "wowed," he said.
"In person, she was such an articulate and passionate spokesperson and advocate for the idea of having your children eat nutritious foods," he said. The company acquired the rights to the book in June.
Meanwhile, Lapine got a deal with Running Press after an auction among six different publishers, she said. She also pitched Oprah several times.
"Missy's idea is a great one and I would have thought it would have been seized by a publisher and Oprah right away, but she's not a media mega-mom like Jessica Seinfeld," Biggers said.
Even the covers of the book are alike. The cover of "The Sneak Chef" features a chef cartoon holding carrots behind her back and winking. On "Deceptively Delicious" a woman is winking and has carrots on her cutting board.
Biggers said one recipe in particular gave her pause: the gilled cheese.
"Putting a puree of butternut squash in between two slices of cheese; that's pretty unique," she said. "And keep in mind that Jessica's book came out about six months after Missy Lapine's book did."
"I got really upset," said Lapine. "My visceral action was 'Oh my god.' I was, like, heartbroken. I knew there was a book coming out by a famous person that was so incredibly similar."
David Steinberger, president and CEO of The Perseus Books Group, said he wrote a letter to HarperCollins expressing concern about the similarities.
While Collins did modify the cover to put the carrots on a counter, Ross said that was not in response to the letter. The company made no other changes, Ross said.
"We reviewed the allegations and found them to be completely without merit," he said.
Steinberger said Perseus is trying to get more information on how the similarities may have happened.
Seinfeld said she has never seen or read "The Sneaky Chef."
"My book came from years of trying to get my own children to eat healthy foods -- my own trial and error in my own kitchen," she said in a statement. "The idea of pureeing vegetables has been around for decades."
Seinfeld's agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh from William Morris Agency, said she and Seinfeld began discussing the idea in 2005. She said the book was already being bound when "The Sneaky Chef" came out.
Lapine said she is not accusing anyone of anything. But she said it does "hurt" to see someone else given credit for her method.
But with Americans focused on obesity and getting kids to eat better, both books are doing well: Seinfeld's will reach No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list for hardcover advice books Oct. 28, and Lapine's will be at No. 9 on the paperback counterpart list, according to the newspaper.
Collins is working around the clock to keep up with demand, Ross said, with 2.3 million copies of the book expected to be in print by the end of January.