Aussie publisher reprinting cookbook after recipe typo calls for ‘freshly ground black people’

Cookbook pulped over ‘ground black people’ typo

SYDNEY — An Australian publisher is reprinting 7,000 cookbooks over a recipe for pasta with “salt and freshly ground black people.”

Penguin Group Australia’s head of publishing, Bob Sessions, acknowledged the proofreader should have caught the “silly mistake.”

He told The Sydney Morning Herald for a story printed Saturday that, “We’re mortified that this has become an issue of any kind and why anyone would be offended, we don’t know.”

The typo was in the “Pasta Bible” recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto.

Sessions said the publisher would replace the book for any buyer “small-minded enough” to complain. The reprinting will cost 20,000 Australian dollars ($18,500).

There was no answer at Penguin’s offices Sunday.