Onezwa Mbola, a chef and content producer from South Africa, has accused Nara Smith, a content creator from the US, of copying her ideas after the latter made several oddly identical dishes to Mbola’s.
Mbola released a video last week on her Instagram reels, without mentioning Smith, describing how she is devastated by Smith’s theft of her ideas for material and publishing them as his own.
“I made it clear that I know I’m not the first person to accomplish anything, and I appreciate that. Mbola told The Citizen, “I’m not talking about recipes; I’m talking about a pattern of stealing ideas.”
“I actually design recipes that others can follow along with. That’s alright. However, the problem isn’t making up recipes; rather, it’s actually copying my material and style and making money off of it without giving me credit.
The former MasterChef SA candidate claims that she became aware of the purported content theft late last year, but she remained silent about it. However, she claims that last week’s films were inspired by her attempt to make boba tea, which Smith created the same day.
“Money has never been the reason I started creating content; I don’t approach brands; I’ve only recently begun working with brands,” the former marine navigator stated.
“I’m very particular about my own brand, which is why it took me a long time to collaborate with brands.”
Bloemfontein is the birthplace of Smith, a fashion model who is Lesotho-German.
Smith was contacted by The Citizen for comment, but she failed to reply by the deadline. If she responds, her comment will be added.
“Nara Smith from South Africa”
“Until the end of last year, I wasn’t posting on TikTok very often, but a lot of people would come and comment on my videos, tagging Nara or calling me ‘South Africa’s Nara Smith,'” Mbola said.
Mbola acknowledges that she had followed Smith on social media, but she said she was blind to the parallels between the two people’s posts at the time.
But after a while, she began to see a pattern: whatever dish she made, Smith would produce a similar one a few days later, but in her own unique style.
Mbola asserted, “These were small things; it wasn’t something significant.”
After discussing these ‘insignificant’ similarities with a buddy, the Eastern Cape-based designer was urged to monitor Smith’s output before making any accusations.
“We would wait to see how long she created something similar; it kind of became a running joke.”
Then, Mbola started preparing Asian food, which she knew Smith couldn’t cook well.
Consequently, it [the duplication] subsided. I immediately modified my content strategy to include more Asian cuisine and seafood as I knew she wouldn’t be able to accomplish these things on her own.
The claimed duplication subsided for a period, and Mbola resumed experimenting with non-Asian dishes at the beginning of this year. Mbola said, “And then again, she started doing it again.”
“I’m not going to say anything [to her], even though there seems to be too much of a pattern here.”
In a video that she released in February, Mbola addressed the many individuals who often comment on her posts and call her South Africa’s Nara Smith.
Smith, who was born in South Africa, left a remark on the video expressing her sympathies for Mbola without being identified by Mbola.
“I’m thinking that now that she’s seen this, she will stop doing it, but she doesn’t.”
Following that, Mbola proceeded to prepare cream cheese, and in less than 48 hours, Smith created her own.
“That happened, but it was just little things, and I think that was the most difficult thing—it’s just like, little things, and it’s hard to point them out.”
The imitation tea
“Let’s see how long it will take that one big creator to recreate this,” someone remarked on Mbola’s post after she published her version of boba tea. This was said a few minutes later.
Mbola didn’t reply to the remark, but she expressed surprise that others are aware of the situation between her content and Smith.
In less than a day after Mbola’s, Smith brewed her own boba tea, as expected. “I blocked her when she started doing this, so I didn’t even see her video because I don’t follow her.”
The commenter who had foreseen Smith’s tea-copying returned to joke in the comments, saying, “Oh I’m a prophet, she’s already made a boba tea.”
“Look, there’s her own boba. I feel like I can’t do this anymore at this moment because I’m so stressed out.
Mbola decided to take a vacation from creating material after venting to a buddy.
Reactions directed to Mbola
Mbola has faced criticism for advocating for herself.
“Everyone would understand why you’re outraged if someone was selling your music or making exactly the same music as you and passing it off as theirs. However, since everyone is creating content, it turns into a game of “oh you’re jealous because they’re making money off it.”
Mbola laughed as she responded to some of the remarks made against her, saying things like “why would a rich woman in the States with a husband, a family, and beautiful kids be hating on me living in rural South Africa milking goats”?
The single mother thinks that because so many people are aware of the situation, Smith will be forced to cease copying her stuff. “Hopefully, shame will put an end to her,” Mbola laughed.
Given how many other individuals have claimed that she has been stealing from so and so, I’m not sure whether she will cease working with other creators. She has been engaging in this behaviour with others besides me.
She affirmed that she will go on producing stuff for Instagram and TikTok, as well as uploading it there.
