Response from: peggy

I was appalled by the Seinfeld's arrogant excuse that "Jessica Seinfeld is financially well off & how absurd it is that anyone would think she would need to 'copy' someone else to make money."
Well, Jessica, just because you're "rich" (financially) Does Not mean that automatically puts YOU above copying somebody else; if not for money, maybe for attention or to receive the credit for something as clever & successful as Ms. Lapine's book was.
I suppose someone who is so willing to take the credit from someone else's idea would not be so forthcoming in taking responsibility for their actions either.
But to say because you're rich you couldn't possibly have done anything wrong & that being rich, alone, should keep You above scrutiny, just makes it to the Top of my Snootometer.

Response from: pat

Oh please. That's a bit of a stretch peggy. That doesn't translate to being above scrutiny, it means there is simply a LACK OF MOTIVE. Your little rant did give a good laugh though, so thanks!
Lapine is the one who is arrogant to think that she invented or pioneered this method and that Jessica copied her and just made little changes here and there. This was common practice during my grandmother's time. There have been several similar cookbooks with these recipes well. She doesn't own the rights to hiding vegetables in food. If Jessica copied her, then she copied my grandma because I have recipe cards sitting in my kitchen with almost exaclty the same shit. She's just pissed that her book got rejected a zillion times and sat on the shelf while Jessica's more marketable book and persona got accepted and gained lots of publicity. That's business. Smart business, in fact. The only coincidence I see is the timing. Funny story: one day I was eating a sandwich with a side of chips and decided on a whim to put the chips in the sandwhich. I had never seen or heard of anyone else doing that, but liked the crunch so I kept doing it. It just so happens that alot of people do it. One day I happened to do this while eating with some friends and one said, "Hey! you copied my sandwhich thing! I've been doing that since I was little!" I tried to tell her that alot of people did it, but she insisted that it was "her thing". Lapine reminds me of my friend.... chips in sandwiches, veggies in mac and cheese. Alot of people come up with the same stuff while experimenting with their food. I doesnt mean it was copied or ripped off of someone else, certain recipes and methods are a logical outcome of trying to achieve a specific goal. I also make my pb&j's with the jelly on the bottom, and although I'm the only one I know of who does that, I'm not so arrogant as to think that I am the first and anyone else that does it must have copied me. HA!