Recently, The Washington Post wrote an article about copyright in cooking, following a new copyright fight between baker and TikTok influencer, Brooke Bellamy, and food writer Nagi Maehash. Their dispute raises a key question: Can anyone own a recipe?
The short answer is “No” – basic recipes are beyond copyright’s boundary: they live in the public domain. Authors, chefs, and ordinary people are free to use, adapt, and share recipes, taking them as a building block for a restaurant menu, a blog post, a cookbook, or a family dinner. This freedom helps grow the culinary field, sparking innovation and creativity – you might say the public domain is a key ingredient in the spread of culinary knowledge and culture! Read the infographic below to learn how and when copyright and cooking mix.
