San Francisco Blog

Oh Jerry Seinfeld. You're incorrigible! Making light of your wife's struggles like that. In case you haven't heard, Seinfeld's wife Jessica is being accused of "vegetable plagiarism" over her new book "Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food." Apparently another book about fooling kids into eating more vegetables was also released recently, raising the question of Ms. Seinfeld's originality.

"The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals" by Missy Chase Lapine is similar in concept, and according to Jerry, who turned the accusation into a comedy bit on The Late Show With David Letterman, Ms. Lapine sensed that this could be her "wacko moment" and has accused Jessica of copying her.

As The Grinder points out, the publishing schedule of the two books would have made it nearly impossible for Jessica to have copied. "Deceptively Delicious" came out earlier this month, while "The Sneaky Chef" was released this past April. That's only six months difference, and ripping off an entire book in that time seems highly unlikely. Copycat or not, Jerry's observations on the controversy are worth a laugh:

""I love the term `plagiarism' for this little event," he said. "Because it used to be you had to really take a theme from a major novel, some sort of literary narrative. Now, you're in your kitchen making brownies, you sneak a little spinach in there, your name's dragged through the mud.""

-- Brian Bernbaum