Stolen Recipes

 Recipes have a way of becoming our own. Some are legitimately take, passed down from family members or across from friends , neighbors and co-workers. However legit recipes do get stolen.It is a form of plagiarism and something should be done about it.

Priya Krishna, a cookbook writer herself and a regular contributor to the Wednesday New York Times Food section wrote about this in yesterday's section.recipe's really aren't protected by US copyright law.It's much harder to prove someone's stealing your cookbook recipes than it is for such creative material as sheet music, poetry, architectural works, paintings and even computer software.Cookbook writers who believe their works have been copied have little recourse. They can rant on online forums or confront the offender face to face which isn't wise.It's widely known as well in the publishing world that recipes can't be copyrighted.It's a common practice in the US according to Bonnie Slotnick,a bookstore owner that specializes in selling cookbooks and antique tomes.The first one, "American Cookery" written by Amelia Simmons in 1798 liberally borrowed from English cookbooks of the time. In ensuing years white cookbook writers shamelessly stole recipes from Black American cooks, passing them off as their own. Even the famed James Beard stole from his colleagues, claiming the recipes were his creations.

There have been a handful of famous cases in recent history that did result in law suits. One of the famous involved Jerry Seinfeld's wife Jessica and her book "Deceptively Delicious"/ It was all about putting veggies in such treats as brownies. Yet it was originally written by Missy Chase Lapine. However a court ruled against Ms. Lapine because her concept wasn't protected. A more recent and much more famous case deals with famed British chef Elizabeth Haigh, book "Makan: about her native Singapore. Another author, Sharon Wee noticed that the recipes were exact replicas of the ones in her book,"Growing Up In A Nonya Kitchen". even Ms. wee's personal recollections were copied to the letter in the other's book. This involved a heated debate about recipe ownership. Many writers wondered how they could safeguard their recipes against future theft. Now social media makes it even harder  with chefs taking and giving across many platforms. Ownership gets muddled. All chefs, home and professional just use recipes and claim them as their own.

What to do? Give credit where credit is due. That's the best way to honor and respect recipe writers.