Deli owner in clash over cookery book name

Kate Attlee has asked Bloomsbury to change the title and cover design of the cookbook Sabzi

The owner of Cornish deli brand Sabzi said she had been left "incredibly stressed" after publishing giant Bloomsbury released a cookery book using the same name.

Kate Attlee, 37, who launched Sabzi in 2019 and trademarked the name in 2022, said Bloomsbury's decision to publish Sabzi by food writer Yasmin Khan had caused confusion among her customers.

She is calling on Ms Khan and Bloomsbury to change the name and cover design of the book, which was released in July.

Bloomsbury said Ms Khan began work on Sabzi, a widely used term for vegetable dishes in Farsi and Urdu, in 2017, before the first Sabzi deli opened, and her use of the word as a descriptive title did not amount to trademark use.

The deli, which specialises in Middle Eastern-inspired salads made with seasonal British produce, has four locations across Cornwall and a growing online following.

Ms Attlee said she had been sharing recipes with more than 5,000 subscribers and had long planned to publish her own cookbook under the Sabzi name.

"People have been coming into our shops asking for the book, thinking it's ours," she told BBC News.

"Others have bought it online assuming it was connected to us."

Ms Attlee said this was not about Ms Khan who she had a lot of respect for but "about Bloomsbury, a massive company, ignoring a trademark I paid to register as part of growing my business".

Ms Attlee first heard about the book in July when a customer messaged her after hearing an interview on BBC Radio 4 and thinking it was her, had ordered the book.

Ms Attlee said she contacted Bloomsbury with a request to change the title but that the publisher refused.

"I'm not trying to sue anyone for profit," she said. "I just want them to respect the trademark and the future of my business."

In a statement Bloomsbury said the term sabzi was part of the shared culinary vocabulary of many cultures, including Ms Khan's own heritage.

"In various languages, including Farsi and Urdu, it simply means vegetables or greens, or a dish made with vegetables," it said.

"It is a term that Ms Khan, an award-winning cookbook author, has used previously during her writing career, including in her cookbook The Saffron Tales."

The company said Ms Khan had used the term as the title of a cookbook consisting of vegetarian recipes from or inspired by Iranian and South Asian culinary traditions.

The statement added: "It is widely accepted that the use of a descriptive term as the title of a book in order to denote the book's subject matter - as Ms Khan has done - does not function as trademark use."

It added Ms Khan started work on Sabzi in 2017 - before the first Sabzi deli was opened and the company had responded "in detail to Ms Attlee's complaint through the proper channel, her legal representatives".

The BBC has approached Ms Khan for comment.