Recipegate: Can Cindy McCain Cook?

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Super Chef has been chewing over the latest plagiarism news, this time about John McCain's wife, Cindy. Was Cindy (or her intern) inspired by recent fellow Republic plagiarist Tim Goeglein? To help sort through the news, Super Chef has compiled snippets from the press on "Farfallegate" or "Recipegate" -- please notice how we (as usual) link back to our sources clearly. The news first broke Monday night in an article by David Weiner on The Huffington Post web site. Soon The New York Times and hundreds of other media picked it up (see "Related news," below). Super Chef lauds these two headlines in particular: Wall Street Journal: "McCain Campaign: Got a Recipe for Crow?" Los Angeles Times: "Ooops, Cindy McCain's recipe for recipe plagiarism Here is a choice quote The LA Times: Some intern, likely the daughter of a contributor taking a semester off from school, posted the Arizona senator's wife's favorite recipes, the campaign says. "Just to look at the beer distributor heiress, anyone can tell she spends five to six hours a day over the stove." Some of the pilfered recipes came from Kathleen Daelemans, and one came from Rachael Ray. Here is a quote from Us Magazine: But Ray tells Usmagazine.com in a statement: "These recipes are supposed to be accessible to everyone -– interns, senators, students and families alike!" "I am flattered when anyone cooks my food." To show she has no hard feelings, Ray wants Cindy and her presidential hopeful hubby to visit her show and "get in the kitchen to share with our viewers some of their favorite family recipes." Of course, why should Rachael Ray care about that recipe: did she really write it -- or one of her interns? Most cookbooks include recipes inspired by or written by someone other than the author. Some cookbooks only include such collected recipes along with good notes -– but always citing or acknowledging the original, even if some believe that there are no original recipes. But is it ever OK to put your name on a recipe that you didn't even tweak, and just lifted wholesale from someone else? Are many American home cooks going to sympathize with Cindy because they too claim someone else's recipes as their own? What is really nauseating is that voters actually want to know what their candidate's spouses cook. (There are more challenging issues out there). If the candidate's spouse cooks, does the candidate deserve our vote? Are we ready for a chef president like Thailand (see previous article)? It is hard to imagine Cindy McCain cooking or any of the candidates having much time for the culinary arts and yet the campaigns put recipes on their websites. Maybe that will mean the next American president will actually care about the national diet, childhood obesity, and world hunger. Let's hopes so. Related news: The New York Times, ABC News, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun, AP, Guardian, NY Post, UPI Previous articles: [Chefs & Politics - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, Cindy McCaine --> back to Super Chef