The argument pre-dates the net, there’s no point covering it here, it’s also an argument that goes around in a circular motion like a dog chasing its own tail, it’s fruitless. It’s not the first time nor will it be the last time that my recipes have been used without permission and I don’t have time to chase.
For those who swap ingredients and then call it your recipe; it’s not. Over the last 3 years of blogging I’ve read your arguments here and there, standing tall in your righteousness, blah…blah…ingredients are not copyright…blah bleeping blah…but it still doesn’t make it your recipe. Instead in my view it makes you fall into the category of, I’m-too-lazy-to-develop-my-own-recipes or the other I-don’t-know-how-to-develop-my-own-recipes.
Until you spend hours, accumulating into days and weeks of trying and failing, and failing many times over developing your own recipes and along with that time spend hundreds (and hundreds) of your hard earned cash throwing those failures in the rubbish bin you won’t get it.
Chameleon, your recipe for Strawberries and “Cream” Yoghurt Cake hasn’t become your own creation because you swapped some flour and sugar, you could’ve at least found a different way of writing the list of ingredient than using my individual style.
Chameleon your recipe:
WET Mix
- 250g (1 cup) plain yoghurt
- 120g butter melted (add 1/4 tsp of salt if using unsalted butter)
- 3 large eggs, lightly whisked
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
DRY Mix
- 120g plain flour + 155g oat flour (total 275g)
- 100g sugar + 100g stevia (total 200g)
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate soda
- 3-4 tbs of milk
Looks very much like my recipe:
Wet Mixture
- 250 grms / 1 cup of thick plain yogurt
- 120 grms / 1 stick of butter melted (if using unsalted add 1/4 teaspoon of salt)
- 3 large eggs, lightly mixed together until blended
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (not essence)
Mix all together in a bowl.
Dry Mixture
- 275 grms / 2 cups of plain flour (all purpose)
- 200 grms / 1 cup of granulate or caster sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), slightly rounded spoon
Mix all together in a separate bowl.
1-2 tablespoon of milk
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
At least she didn’t use your pictures
Very annoying but it seems all too common!
It is very hard to see your work used without acknowledgement. Since the post mentioned ‘a blogger’, why not give the name? I have always contacted people before using their work and asked them for permission; attribution is usually all they require.
This is a pet peeve of mine. How did you find it? What’s wrong with linking to your recipe and saying “I substituted some stevia”?
You do have a mention and a link on that recipe, is that since you posted this?! I never claim to make my own recipes, but sometimes have no idea where I got the original from, so don’t acknowledge, but you’ve made me realise I should try where possible to link back or give credit. I love your blog and will definitely send credit to you if I share one of your recipes!
Bee – the best thing is to link back to the recipe quantities in that person’s blog with any notes of changes you’ve made in your own blog that way you’re helping the original creator. If you do want to post another site’s recipe contact them and ask permission first.
I am extremely sorry for making this mistake. I usually post the source of where I received the recipe from. I’m currently making the adjustments to the post as soon as I finish writing this. I can understand all too well that this occurs over the internet and coming from a drawing background I know very well how common it is. I know you must be very upset and I cannot apologize enough. I love your blog and your recipes in particular your supercharged banana cake. I’m terribly sorry. If there is something I can do to rectify the situation apart from of course including a link to your blog then please let me know.
Minh – I have respect for you for coming back to me, thank you. With a website/blog it’s easy to ask the creator permission first.
This I say to anyone that makes/tried/experiments with other people’s recipes (I too make other people’s recipes) if we don’t want to or can’t get permission because it’s in print then it’s easy to post photos of us making the recipe, there’s no need to write out the recipe. If the recipe is online it’s easy to link to the recipe without writing out the recipe in our own page. Readers that like visiting our site do not care if we don’t have the recipe, they care reading about our experience and what we thought of it. It truly does not diminish our site by not having the recipe.
That’s some interesting food for thought on writing about the experience of trying out a recipe. I can’t tell you how much I’ve refreshed this page waiting for your reply. Thank you for the advice. I’ll definitely take that into consideration for any future recipe posts.
Thanks Minh.