Beloved Australian chef Nagi Maehashi has been left in tears after an interaction with a man who went out of his way to belittle her.
The founder of RecipeTin Eats opened up about the harrowing experience in an Instagram post over the weekend.
“It finally clicked when I realised I got to the end of the weekend and hadn’t told a single friend what happened,” she began.
“I didn’t tell them because I felt embarrassed and ashamed,” the bestselling author continued. “He belittled me, he spoke in a way designed to dominate and subdue me, to intimidate me into submission so I just became a compliant prop.”
Nagi went on to reveal that she cried during a break at the shoot and on the way home.
“I keep crying every time I’ve drafted and redrafted this email as I try to keep it as succinct and professional as I can,” she continued.
“This is the first time in my professional career that anything like this has happened, and I’m really caught off guard how rattled I am and how upset it has made me.”
The Dinner author said she mostly felt “disappointed” that she hadn’t been able to stand up for herself in the moment.
“Just defeated and beaten, low self esteem,” she explained. “I don’t recognise this person right now.”
In the caption of the post, Nagi explained that her New Year’s resolution is to stand up for herself.
“Don’t let people walk over me,” she wrote. “Work smarter, work less hours, achieve more results, max time with Dozer. More charity work. Sleep 8 hours a night.”
Nagi didn’t name the man who made her feel this way and her famous friends and fans were quick to jump into the comments to show their support.
“I had this moment in 2024. It rocked me to my core. I felt traumatised. But it became a massive line in the sand for me. It was so important as it will never EVER happen again,” podcast host Zoe Marshall commented.
“Sending much love to you Nagi. Your words resonated with a similar situation I found myself in too. Thank you for sharing, it’s nice to know that we’re all in this together! I hope you’ll achieve all your wishes in 2026!” added someone else.
“Go for gold Nagi, don’t let nasty people put you down never 👎 love to you and Dozer and great work ethic for your hardworking team,” chimed in a third.
After a career in finance, Nagi launched her incredibly popular food blog RecipeTin Eats in 2014.
Her first recipe book RecipeTin Eats Dinner has sold over 250,000 copies in Australia alone.
When her second book, Tonight, was released in 2024, it broke the Australian record for the highest first-week sales of a nonfiction book since records began in 2002.
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