A cookbook author has become embroiled in a legal dispute after a Cornish deli owner claimed trademark infringement over the word 'sabzi', a common term for vegetables in several South Asian and Middle Eastern languages. The author, who is of Pakistani and Iranian heritage, received a solicitor's letter demanding the destruction of her cookbook, 'Sabzi: Fresh Vegetarian Recipes for Every Day', alleging that the title copied the deli's brand.
The deli owner, who trademarked 'sabzi' in 2022 for her business and future products, accused the author of misrepresentation and damaging her business. The legal letter demanded detailed commercial reports and threatened the pulping of the book. The author described the experience as 'devastating' and 'enraging', noting that the word is part of the daily lexicon for over a billion people across cultures.
Bloomsbury, the publisher, sought legal advice and concluded that the claims were overreaching, as book titles cannot be trademarked and common cultural words should be exempt from intellectual property law. The author faced a social media pile-on, with aggressive messages from white women in Cornwall, traced back to the deli owner's public posts framing the dispute as a David-versus-Goliath battle.
The author argues that the trademarking of words from the global south is part of a colonial legacy, and that shared culinary heritage should not be owned. The legal battle highlights broader issues of power and privilege in cultural ownership, with the deli owner described as privately educated and related by marriage to a former prime minister.
