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Chrissy Teigen responds to troll claiming she stole recipe from another chef

‘I actively talk about the restaurants I love,’ Chrissy Teigen says on Twitter

Sabrina Barr
Wednesday 13 May 2020 15:52 BST
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(Getty Images)

Chrissy Teigen has responded to a claim made by a Twitter troll that she stole a recipe from another chef, stating that she has “never stolen a recipe from anyone”.

Having achieved fame as a model, over the past few years Teigen has gained prominence within the food industry, publishing two cookbooks and releasing a cookware line in the US.

During a recent exchange with a stranger on social media, the author and television personality was forced to defend her integrity when she was accused of copying another chef’s work.

On 12 May, the Twitter troll in question wrote: “You can’t cook or not copy someone’s idea from their cookbook! It’s copying even tho you changed one thing! Come up with your own s***! Ya f***ing bum! [sic].”

The person then said that a chef called “Chef Mike” had seen Teigen’s work “and might file a suit”.

In response, Teigen said she had “no idea” who Chef Mike is, “but he probably wouldn’t be happy to learn that you, a friend of his worthy of calling, is outing him about his impending lawsuit”.

In a further tweet, the Twitter user stated: “Chrissy, just use YOUR talents and not others. That’s all I’m saying!

“I guess you p***ed off a lot of people who have worked their whole lives in the field, and you step in and use their ideas as your own,” they said. ”At least credit the person or person’s the idea came from.”

They continued, stating that Chef Mike’s restaurant in New York is closed, and reading an article about Teigen “sparked his rage”.

Responding again to the Twitter user, Teigen asked them to identify Chef Mike.

“Please tell me who this Chef Mike is? So I can speak to him?” she said.

“I have never stolen a recipe from anyone and I actively talk about the restaurants I love. Imagine the ego to think someone is copying you when they haven’t heard of you?”

Last week, Teigen said that she felt “bummed out” and “crappy” after reading critical comments made about her success in the food industry by Alison Roman when the food columnist took part in an interview with The New Consumer.

During her interview, Roman said: “She [Teigen] had a successful cookbook. And then it was like: Boom, line at Target. Boom, now she has an Instagram page that has over a million followers where it’s just, like, people running a content farm for her. That horrifies me and it’s not something that I ever want to do. I don’t aspire to that.”

Following the controversy, Teigen said she was “taking a little break” from Twitter.

Roman later issued an apology to Teigen and Marie Kondo for the “tone deaf remarks” she made about the pair during her interview.

“I used their names disparagingly to try and distinguish myself, which I absolutely do not have an excuse for,” the New York Times food columnist wrote in a statement on Twitter.

“I need to learn, and respect, the difference between being unfiltered and honest vs. being uneducated and flippant.”

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