I don't know who "the self-appointed recipe police" are, but I wish they'd quit tormenting Shannon 'cause I'm tired of reading that stupid disclaimer. So what if she copies all her recipes, at least she's honest about it.
Kevin.....I do know who of them are. I also know that some of Shannon's recipes are garnered from sources that ahve not given her permission to use them in the format in which she presents them. The situation can be alleviated if Shannon would make some simple small change to those recipes which she publishes them here on Gather.
Joanne, I dunno, someone has gotten Shannon's dander up, and she's always been careful, so far as I'm aware, to credit the recipes she posts. My problem is she posts 10 or 15 a day and every one begins with that same damned boilerplate -- it's like reading a contract. She's entitled to be pissed off if she wants to be, but then, I'm entitled to be irritated.
Donna, Sorry, and my apologies to Shannon, you're quite correct. Having just scanned the disclaimer 15 times (and I should also note, it's not actually boilerplate, because Shannon does appear to modify it for each recipe) I momentarily let my irritation overcome my attention to detail.
I should also add that I do check out her recipes when I have some idea of what they're about and that's another thing about the disclaimer that irritates me.
This is an observation, and it is not simply about this article. In general today, all over gather people seem to be more irritable than normal. I wonder if it is the weather or a full moon or something.
...I want to have an opinion, but I see both sides equally. Personally I think she should just put what she wants to, people always have the option to ignore it.
Shannon you are welcome to post all the recipes you want at Secret Treasures of the Barefoot Cafe - barefootcafe.gather.com - you don't need a disclaimer with us.
I think as long as she says where she got the recipe - a particular cookbook, online etc., I think its fine. Its publicity for the cookbook or the website!!! I use recipes out of cookbooks all the time -good grief, I collect cookbooks for the recipes. I think tho most of us who cook alot adjust recipes and change things in them - amounts, leave out some herbs we don't like. I haven't seen the disclaimer, and I'm sorry that this has happened to Shannon.
She's probably disclaiming to save her own butt. That's okay, I do it too. And Mary H is right, it's free publicity to the cookbook. Do any of us have a recipe that's 100% ours? Maybe Kevin does, but I don't.
I have a few recipes that I can call my own I guess, but many of the recipes I use and think of as mine are actually based on maybe two or three recipes that I've taken the best of, experimented with etc. But, most of the time I start with a recipe from a cookbook or online the first time I decide I want to fix a particular dish. I've tried to "wing it" and not use a recipe and I've had disasters. So I go looking for a real recipe and take it from there. The one recipe Shannon just posted, a cake recipe, is one that used to be reallllly popular around here and I hadn't thought of it or seen it for years. I printed it out and I might make it during the holidays so I appreciated her coming up with that one.
We used to go through this stuff on the old Compuserve Forum, COOKS - we probably could never have had this conversation there without our messages getting deleted and little note about the rules of the forum.
Mary, With the possible exception of the work being done by the so-called "molecular chefs" like Grant Achatz at Alinea and Ferran Adrià at El Bulli, all recipes are based to some degree on older dishes. In my cooking, I tend to classify my efforts in three general categories.
The first is direct adaptations of published recipes. I may follow the recipe exactly, or modify it somewhat, but it is clearly and directly based on someone else's work.
Category two consists of what you describe as "recipes I use and think of as mine are actually based on maybe two or three recipes that I've taken the best of, experimented with." I too think of these syntheses as my own -- and I think rightly so.
The last category are ideas I have that I create from scratch based on my knowledge of techniques and ingredients. But even here, I rely on past experience with other recipes.
As someone pointed out in another thread, the free exchange of recipes is one of the things that makes cooking such a richly creative field. There are currently a few chefs attempting to patent recipes, and, even worse, copyright them -- which in my opinion is a very bad idea.
And Shannon is absolutely right to be giving credit where it's due. She even specifies Web sites. Good for her! It was just the damned disclaimer at the top of every recipe that got my goat, and I note she's now moved it.
Someone was harassing her. And, the woman who did it is cowering in a corner. SHE ought to just come out and say she's sorry. And make this whole disclaimer thing go away!!
BTW, she takes a recipe from Kraft Foods (example only) tests it and tweaks it. So, we don't have to do that part ourselves. It's more like an adaption - she makes them her own.
I don't know about other mommies. But, I just don't have the time to cook from scratch every night. And, Shannon has really helped me do new things and the recipes are easy and fast.
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Comments: 19
I dunno, someone has gotten Shannon's dander up, and she's always been careful, so far as I'm aware, to credit the recipes she posts. My problem is she posts 10 or 15 a day and every one begins with that same damned boilerplate -- it's like reading a contract. She's entitled to be pissed off if she wants to be, but then, I'm entitled to be irritated.
Sorry, and my apologies to Shannon, you're quite correct. Having just scanned the disclaimer 15 times (and I should also note, it's not actually boilerplate, because Shannon does appear to modify it for each recipe) I momentarily let my irritation overcome my attention to detail.
I should also add that I do check out her recipes when I have some idea of what they're about and that's another thing about the disclaimer that irritates me.
Kevin, I'm hungry!
Debra
barefootcafe.gather.com
We used to go through this stuff on the old Compuserve Forum, COOKS - we probably could never have had this conversation there without our messages getting deleted and little note about the rules of the forum.
With the possible exception of the work being done by the so-called "molecular chefs" like Grant Achatz at Alinea and Ferran Adrià at El Bulli, all recipes are based to some degree on older dishes. In my cooking, I tend to classify my efforts in three general categories.
The first is direct adaptations of published recipes. I may follow the recipe exactly, or modify it somewhat, but it is clearly and directly based on someone else's work.
Category two consists of what you describe as "recipes I use and think of as mine are actually based on maybe two or three recipes that I've taken the best of, experimented with." I too think of these syntheses as my own -- and I think rightly so.
The last category are ideas I have that I create from scratch based on my knowledge of techniques and ingredients. But even here, I rely on past experience with other recipes.
As someone pointed out in another thread, the free exchange of recipes is one of the things that makes cooking such a richly creative field. There are currently a few chefs attempting to patent recipes, and, even worse, copyright them -- which in my opinion is a very bad idea.
And Shannon is absolutely right to be giving credit where it's due. She even specifies Web sites. Good for her! It was just the damned disclaimer at the top of every recipe that got my goat, and I note she's now moved it.
I don't know about other mommies. But, I just don't have the time to cook from scratch every night. And, Shannon has really helped me do new things and the recipes are easy and fast.