Cookbook Controversy

So I just have to weigh in on this whole, Jessica Seinfeld copied all my recipes controversy.

First of all, in the interest of full disclosure…I bought the Jessica Seinfeld book.  I have to say, I’m thinking about writing a review or a post or something on Amazon.  This book is not the greatest cookbook ever written, no offense to Mrs. Seinfeld.  The whole “puree and sneak into food” concept sounds like a good one, but in practice…its a TON of work.  She makes it sound like it only takes an hour a week or something to roast all these vegetables, puree them, measure them into bags (what a mess!) and freeze them.

So far, I’m not impressed.

Plus, there’s no info. on calories or anything else so you aren’t really sure what you’re cooking up.  Plus an utter lack of “main” courses (unless spaghetti pie and mac and cheese count.)

For me, an overall disappointment.  The cookbook definitely does not live up to the hype.

And now this other gal (The Sneaky Chef) is saying Mrs. Seinfeld stole 1) her idea (puree and sneak vegetables) and 2) her recipes.

To me it seems like apples and oranges (excuse the attempted pun.)  I’m not so sure about the stealing of the idea thing.  There is more than one Italian cookbook, for example.  Why not more than one “puree and sneak veggies” cookbook?

So I don’t think there is much there.  The accusation of 15 similar (exact?) recipes, however, may be another matter.  We’ll see.

Anyway, plagiarized or not, I wouldn’t recommend the J.Seinfeld book anyway.  Summary: too hard to keep up with the purees, no variety of recipes for main course, no calorie content.  Beautiful artwork, though.

Today’s Baby O’Blog quote: “Copy from one, it’s plagiarism; copy from many, it’s research.”-Wilson Mizner (1876-1933)

Recalls, Recalls…as far as the eye can see.

Sorry to be “off the blog” for so long…turns out a second baby can be a real time drain! (but in a good way!)

I’ve been thinking about all of these product recalls, lately though.  Naturally — everything is made in China and (big surprise) its all turning out to be crap.  Well, not all of it…but a lot of it.  And a lot of it is stuff that babies and kids use (like Thomas trains, bibs, toys…)

This is interesting for me as I’ve been working to develop a product and struggled with manufacturing overseas.  It was daunting at first (as in, how the hell do you find someone to make your product in China?) and so uncertain (as in, would I get quality merchandise or just a bunch of crap?)

Well, if people like Mattel and the Thomas folks are running into all sorts of problems then what does that mean for the rest of us?  The little guy?  The person who is just trying to get their product manufactured and (maybe) turn a decent profit.

I’ve said all along that I was most interested in putting something out there that was a QUALITY PRODUCT.  So maybe I don’t know all of the formulas and margins and all of that for making a (decent) profit, but I’d much rather have something that I was proud to sell and that (frankly) was manufactured in the USA.  Maybe someday down the line I’ll have to look at overseas manufacturing but right now I like supporting local businesses and I know they are sneaking any lead paint into the mats.

And so it goes.  It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.  My guess is there are many more recalls to come, so stay tuned.

Today’s Baby O’Blog quote:  “Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”  Henry Ford.