Sometimes, one simply has to eat the right thing. Yes, eat it.
In my case, the right thing to eat might be sardines. My gynecologist tells me that I am the only patient she knows who eats --or claims to eat-- sardines, which is a pity for everyone else, because sardines are exceptionally good for a body.
https://www.lifehack.org/291464/20-surprising-health-benefits-sardines
I created my own, unique recipe for kedgeree using sardines instead of haddock or kippers, and I wrote it into a scene in my first book, "Forced Mate".
Here is someone else's kedgeree recipe. To wit, John Torode's.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/kedgeree
And another, by Cara Cormack.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/super-easy-kedgeree-recipe-435296
For my kedgeree, I variously (depending what I have to hand) add oysters and mushrooms for the complimentary benefits of zinc and magnesium, also onions, garlic, parsley, clams to the sardines and brown rice. I also add extra turmeric with the curry, and black pepper for obvious reasons...(because the piperine in black pepper boosts the bioavailability of the curcumin in turmeric.)
Then, as covert blatant self-promotion, I gave some copies of my Forced-Mate-related kedgeree recipe to my doctor and gave her permission to copy and distribute. I got a lot of traffic
Recipes can be a great promotional medium for authors, but are there legal implications for using a recipe in your book, and sharing that recipe? Maybe it depends whether the recipe is entirely your own creation, or comes from someone else.
As a basic rule of thumb, ideas and facts cannot be copyrighted, so if all you lift from someone else is a list of ingredients, and a "to-do" list of what to do with the ingredients, and in what order, you are probably not on a sticky wicket if you transcript something off the internet. Transcribe. Don't cut and paste, because you might trawl up some unique and creative expressions, and while ideas cannot be copyrighted, the expression of them can be.
Legal blogger Brian Murphy of the lawfirm Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC shares a perfect example of an original recipe and a non-infringing copy of it.
https://advertisinglaw.fkks.com/post/102hert/vegan-dog-treats-and-copyright
No author can claim ownership, under copyright law, of facts or ideas; copyright law protection extends only to the original way an author expresses facts or ideas. This “idea/expression dichotomy,” derives from Article I, section 8, clause 8 of the Constitution and is codified in Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act: “[i]n no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.”
It helped the defendants' case that their illustrations, layout, color schemes were different from the plaintiff's, and of course they omitted the original's creative suggestions for wine pairings, personal reminiscences, poetic turns of phrase, and idiosyncratic expressions.
The topic of the copyrightability of cook books was discussed in a paid course a while ago, entitled, "Whose Dish Is It Anyway." Some insights are available on the events page.
https://www.csusa.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1612989&group=
Meanwhile, for a more global perspective, the IP law firm covering Africa and the USA, Vazi Legal, blogged recently on Lexology about recipes, copyright disputes and choices such as trademarking, trade secrets protections, or patenting recipes if they are worth trying to monetize and protect.https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=a74fa87f-f4aa-4112-9497-263ab9e247df
Their article answers the question, "Can I protect my recipe and tasty creations?" and the tiny excerpts copied here are no substitute for reading the entire piece.
Vazi Legal shares that:
"Copyrights give the authors or creators an exclusive right of original works of authorship fixed in a tangible form of expression. Typically these works include literary, artistic (dramatic), and musical works. Copyright protection will only cover creations that are not intangible. Thus, copyrighting a recipe is only possible when expressed literally."
And also that:
A recipe classified as a literary work for legal purposes does not prevent another party from applying it to make a dish. Hence, copyright protection can only protect the written recipe from being republished and not the recipes themselves. Same with a cookbook. Even a slight change in the order of the ingredients to reproduce a cookbook will devoid the initial recipe from enjoying copyright protection since food ingredients are not exactly creative works. However, a chef may add creativity to the cookbook and strengthen copyright protection by including an original literary commentary.
Protection depends on whether or not your recipe has a distinctive name that can be trademarked. Perhaps, a science fiction or fantasy author might create the otherworldly equivalent of "Pringles" as a low volume, low weight, insanely nutritious snack that would work in all gravities. The name might be trademarked. The formula might be patented.
The UK law firm Killburn and Strode has a superb article by Rowena Tolley (partner) and Kathryn Sayer about, amongst other things, recipes that are not trade secrets, and that may be in the public domain, as are, presumably, any blog that I shared about my own kedgeree recipe.
https://www.kilburnstrode.com/knowledge/technology/ip-for-the-recipe-revolution
"Specific literary expressions of recipes and accompanying photographs can be protected by copyright, as for other written works and photographs. However, copyright in a recipe as a literary work would allow you to stop people only from replicating the recipe in that particular form – i.e. it would only protect against republication of the written recipe itself, but not against copying of the actual edible output thereof..."
This article may be inspiring to science fiction/fantasy authors because of the potential protections in Britain for meat substitute compositions... for instance, the potential of mushrooms grown on interstellar craft might be fertile ground. (Groan.)
OK, perhaps not mushrooms, because Quorn has been there, done that.
https://www.quorn.us/products/quorn-meatless-grounds
But what if you called it, "Celia"? This is not legal advice. I am just a blogger.
As the Kilburn and Strode lawyers say:
"... it’s not impossible – patents have been granted at the EPO for meat replica compositions amongst other foodstuffs, though such subject-matter typically relates to the composition of ingredients used in food manufacturing, rather than to recipes for cooking at home or in restaurants per se. In the UK, a patent was also granted for a fish and chip batter which was found to be inventive because it reduces oil uptake during the frying process."
Legal blogger Dallin Wilson for the lawfirm Seyfarth Shaw LLP's Trading Secrets blog has an absolute tale of woe about a waffle recipe. It is fun to read, a big name is dropped, but more recipe-related scuttlebutt than good advice for authors. Nevertheless, her is the link.
All the best,
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