Gnudi is fun to say, don’t ya think? Basically it’s gnocchi twice the size. Which is also fun to say. But are gnudi twice as fun to eat? Well, I leave that for you to decide. Because these light as air pea and ricotta gnudi are easy to make too. Easier than gnocchi, because it’s a little less fussy in the forming of the little pillows.
This dish is pretty on the plate as well. Peas make it a super seasonal recipe. I like to finish this with bacon and mint so the flavors are full and diverse, making the airy texture all the more exciting.
But before I get to the gnudi recipe though, let’s talk gnocchi. As close as I can figure gnocchi (pronounced nee-O-key) means “little lumps”. One look at a proper gnocchi and you can see why. But they did not call them little potato lumps so I figure there is room for extemporizing. Which means in my opinion there is no reason to strictly limit myself to little lumps of potato, semolina or even ricotta dough.
And beyond that, it seems there are two schools of thought on gnocchi. They can be chewy or they can be pillowy. In my opinion they both have their place on my plate. Traditionally the chewier varieties are potato based. The dough is drier and easy to roll out. Their light as air cousins often start out life as ricotta. They are more difficult to handle. But handled well they reward you with little pillows of luscious texture.
And while the little-lump concept lends itself to improvisation, the actual shaping of the potato gnocchi is a precise craft. Marcella Hazan has a wonderful method and warns us that despite the name “gnocchi should be anything but lumpish”… I don’t know, maybe etymology is not her strong suit…
But I do like her process for molding the perfect gnocchi. But keep in mind that she is discussing the doughier (usually potato) style of gnocchi. She directs us to divide the dough into several parts depending on how much dough you made, your goal is baseball sized. Each part should be rolled out into one-inch thick ropes and sliced into 3/4 of an inch long “lumps” There’s that word again!
Now comes the critical part: “Take a dinner fork with long, slim tines, rounded if possible,” she writes. “Working over a counter, hold the fork more or less parallel to the counter, with the concave side facing you. With the index finger of your other hand, hold one of the cut pieces against the inside curve of the fork, just below the tips of the prongs. At the same time that you are pressing the piece against the prongs, flip it away from the tips and in the direction of the handle. The motion of the finger is flipping, not dragging. As the piece rolls away from the prongs, let it drop to the counter. If you are doing it correctly, it will have ridges on one side formed by the tines and a depression on the other formed by your fingertip.”
Now all this is great advice and when followed precisely you will indeed attain perfect gnocchi. But the amount of flour and the working of the dough creates tougher glutens that are indeed a bit chewy in the end. And there is nothing wrong with that. Because potato gnocchi are usually boiled and served with rich sauces like pesto, sage butter, Gorgonzola or a butter-enriched tomato sauce.
But ricotta-based gnocchi dough is much lighter. It should not be worked too much because you will lose the pillowy texture you are looking for. Which is why I prefer the larger and simpler version known as gnudi (kind of like ravioli filling). They don’t test my skills with the tines of a fork, because the very best way to form these dumplings is with a teaspoon or scoop. Plop, right into the water. I personally prefer a small 1 1/2‑inch cookie/ice-cream type scoop. The result is a more free-form ball of gnudi, but the texture will be light and lovely. GREG
Pea Gnudi with Bacon & Mint serves 8 as a first course CLICK here for a printable recipe
- 1 c whole-milk ricotta
- 2 1⁄2 c freshly shelled peas
- 2 T kosher salt
- 2 c loosely packed parsley, leaves only
- 1 t fresh thyme leaves, minced
- 1 T fresh mint leaves, minced
- 3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
- 1 t finely textured sea salt, plus more as needed
- 1⁄2 t white pepper, plus more as needed
- 1 1⁄2 c all-purpose flour
- 1 c parmesan, finely grated, plus more for garnish
- 8 sli thick cut bacon, sliced crosswise into 1/4‑inch strips
- 1 T unsalted butter, plus more as needed
- 1⁄4 c chicken broth, plus more as needed
- mint leaves, both torn and whole to taste
- very good olive oil for drizzling
Drain the ricotta well by placing it into a cheese cloth lined stainer set over a bowl for at least 3 hours.
Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice cubes and water. Bring a large sauce pan filled with water to a boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt along with the peas. Cook the peas about 3 minutes, then add the parsley leaves and stir to combine. Cook another 30 seconds then drain and quickly add the peas and parsley to the prepared ice bath to stop their cooking. Once completely cooled drain them well and transfer them to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the mixture 3 or 4 times, then puree about 15 seconds, then scrape down the sides of the bowl and process another 15 to 20 seconds.
Transfer the puree to a large mixing bowl, add the salt, pepper, thyme, minced mint, drained ricotta, and egg yolks. Mix well. Add the flour and Parmesan cheese to the bowl and fold the mixture gently to incorporate. Do not over-mix, a slightly streaky mixture is fine.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Using a teaspoon or a small scoop form the dough into 1‑inch to 1 1/2‑inch balls and drop them one by one into the boiling water. Do not overcrowd them, work in batches. They should float to the top when fully cooked, about 4 minutes. Transfer them to a parchment lined sheet as they finish cooking. They may be made ahead to this point up to one day.
Heat a large skillet or fry pan over-medium high heat. Add the bacon slices and cook until browned, but still a bit chewy in texture. Transfer to a paper towel lined plated to drain. Pour off some of the rendered bacon fat so that there is about 1/4‑inch left on the bottom of the skillet. Retain the extra bacon fat. Add butter and chicken broth and reheat the skillet.
When ready to serve lightly brown the gnocchi in the bacon fat and chicken broth mixture, tossing often to coat. Season with salt and white pepper. Work in batches if necessary adding more reserved bacon fat, butter and chicken broth as needed. Transfer the warm gnudi to a serving platter or bowl. Toss the reserved bacon pieces on top and garnish with Parmesan, mint leaves, and a drizzle of olive oil. Serve warm.
Greg Henry writes the food blog Sippity Sup- Serious Fun Food, and contributes the Friday column on entertaining forThe Back Burner at Key Ingredient. He’s active in the food blogging community, and a popular speaker at IFBC, Food Buzz Festival and Camp Blogaway. He’s led cooking demonstrations in Panama & Costa Rica, and has traveled as far and wide as Norway to promote culinary travel. He’s been featured in Food & Wine Magazine, Los Angeles Times, More Magazine, The Today Show Online and Saveur’s Best of the Web. Greg also co-hosts The Table Set podcast which can be downloaded on iTunes or atHomefries Podcast Network.
- Follow Greg on Twitter @SippitySup
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- Look for Greg’s book Savory Pies coming Nov 2012, from Ulysses Press
I do my best to teach my recipes right from wrong as well; but in the end, once I hit publish, they are on their own. Very well stated and I agree with your view. When inspired by another writer, I credit them. Whether it’s their recipe or just the idea behind it. If someone does the same for my work, great. If not, it is hardly worth the effort (to me) to track it down and fight over it.
Wonderful. Now, please try to get the blog gods/goddesses to again allow me to receive notices of your blogs? best, Liz
Greg, I would never mind any of your opinions — in fact, the rbing me joy. Now group up with me in FB and forget the rest.
Thank you Greg! My blog is new and I haven’t had to deal with any of this yet. But I am trying to be ready for it. I am toying with the idea of turning my entire posts into picture files, with an extra ‘picture’ as the printable recipe card. I don’t really want to do that because it might make future formatting …interesting, but I may just chance it. Then at least people would have to take the effort to retype everything!
Walking away from a bunch of bullies online is much different than in high school. Unless you were a pretty mature high schooler! Life is too short to argue with people who aren’t listening. Thank you for the post!
~Michelle Trudy Holtz
That’s a shame you felt ganged up on. I don’t waste my valuable free time with that social media non-sense for that very reason. I subscribe to the view it takes more energy to be negative, than to be positve, so I choose the later. I hope the experience doesn’t sour you. I think it’s a debate that has merits on both sides, but you can never make your point heard by putting others views down.
-Gina-
I think the issue of the ownership of recipes is fascinating, and I’d love to see more open and balanced debates about these types of topics as they pertain to food bloggers 🙂
As always, you have hit the nail on the head. Well said!
My way of thinking is so similar that this could have been my article…and I did write one once about the same issue.
What I’ve noticed from my perspective is nothing short of amazing and I often think the phrase ‘Me thinks thou doth protest too much’ is in evidence. Some of the loudest and rudest of the bunch have content that is questionable as to authenticity but larger sites seem to feel that their demands for accountability from others is simply theirs to cite, not to ascribe to.
My life perspective regarding food has always been that it is something that is integral for me not just for nourishment but to show my friends and family how much I care for them. The time investment and creativity are all about an end result that I hope will bring joy to others and that effort has transcended to my food blog.
I so agree with Nancy’s comment…when I make something for my family, that ability is from a myriad set of circumstances. Did it begin with Home Ec or baking with my Grandmother? Maybe. How about the years of cooking as a newlywed when magazines were my biggest resource…did any of my ability come from those years of learning via Bon Appetit and Gourmet? Did the recipes now saved on old and yellowed recipe cards have anything to do with how I managed to create a dish myself? Of course they did…all of them. We are ALL beneficiaries of someone else experience; were we required to cite every single source that might have contributed to our ability to create something on our own we would soon see Historian on all of those resumes that now cite Recipe Developer.
Is this a product of the ‘ME’ generation…bastardizing our food culture and recipes for personal gain and unwilling to accept they are neither the first or the best? There is a growing population of food bloggers that are sick of this mentality though admittedly less vocal. The rude reaction to your opinion is one reason why…it’s an unspoken fact that you had better toe the line or be prepared for a backlash.
I hope your backlash is positive…I think you’ve opened the door yet again for other voices to be heard; for no other reason than that…you have both my respect and gratitude.
You took your pen and expressed your best self. You and I think so alike, really we do, even if you sometimes think we are red and blue. We’re really not divided by much. I knew that the minute I found your blog and that’s why I sought a real friendship with you. Every blue moon, I get a wild idea for a recipe, one maybe no one else has done yet. But given enough time, they will all on their own and probably have. Recipes evolve! An idea here, a new kitchen tool there, a different ingredient here. It’s all about palate and creativity. I was not the first person to scramble an egg but at my house this morning with Doug and a neighbor we had a big discussion about how to do it right and what technique to use. I blog and share my recipes openly to connect. If others can improve upon them, wonderful. I just want people to eat good food. If they make my recipe and credit me, wonderful. If they don’t I still don’t lose. I still cook good food and I share it with whatever part of the world cares. 170 countires. Cooking is still unique, personal. If I make your reicpes they will taste differently, and my photos will capture a personal viewpoint. I love this. As for facebook groups and arguing, I think it’s in the air right now. People are edgy lately. I was a very small group for four years that never had an arguement. In December two left in a huff over a differing of opinion. One person was quite hurtful. Made me realize there are seasons to connect with some people and sometimes its time to say goodbye. As for you and me, I hope we are always friends. Seeing what you do, how you write, what you choose to point out always makes me a better person, better blogger.
I did see the thread on Facebook and thought to myself, “how can attacking another food blogger possibly help solve this problem?”
Maybe it’s because I’m much older than all the rest of you that I feel the way I do, but none of us are inventing the cure for cancer. This is food and people have been eating it for a really long time in all sorts of ways. For me, tracking down a scraper isn’t the best use of my time. Cooking great food, learning to be a better writer, learning to take better photos and networking with wonderful people like you is what makes a difference for me.
Unfortunately, I was witness to this specific event. I was taken aback at the way this particular food blogger snapped at you, Greg. While I didn’t disagree with their points that copyrights are copyrights, I understood exactly what you were trying to say. Life’s too short, indeed. Sure, there are blogging divas, who make a living from recipe development and photography. Then, there are the part-time food bloggers who do this as a hobby (I am one of them). If I can earn a few extra dollars, to shop for kitchen “wants” on Amazon, or help defray the costs of photography equipment, and recipe ingredients– it’s a nice bonus. For those whose livlihood is on recipe development, I do understand why they are up in arms when they see their material being copied without proper attribution. Like you said, this is the risk we take, when we put things up on the world wide web. We’ve literally opened up ourselves for total strangers to copy our work. I’m always happy to read when someone successfully shuts down a web page with stolen material. But, like you, I don’t want to get all worked up about it. I am honored, when someone takes the time to tell me that they made my recipe. Likewise, I undertand it’s simple courtesy, to give credit where it’s due.
Above all, as food bloggers, we are a community who should be here to support one another. I’m taken aback at how rude that person was. It was totally unnecessary. You are a gentleman, and I think you handled the whole thing with class. Kudos to you, for using your gift for writing to share your point of view. Well done.
Greg, I am so sorry you had a bad experience in a FB Group. I have heard of this happening many times, yet each new “pile-on” brings a wave of amazement. I think it’s the anonymity thing — folks get pretty wild when they are at their own computers. My advice — stay away from the groups. May I also say that there was probably no small amount of jealousy involved- from what you have said I am gleaning that you were rather less hidebound on the subject. And frankly, I am willing to bet that you were the most successful and well known among the “discussion panel.” M’dear, so oftten in life I have discovered that it is the most successful among us that are the most intellectually generous and expansive.
But as to the sharing, I am with you. I’d hate for my recipes to be stagnant. And never for one second do I think a recipe was born entirely of my brain. Every recipe is a result of my interactions — with family, friends instructors, books and every other food related and culture related thing in my life. We can’t copyright them, but we sure could ask for some attribution. I would agree that the nature of the web being what it is, we do give tacit approval for lifting & morphing when we post. However, I will state that I do not like it. I know. Sounds nuts. But the truth is copyright law never really kept pace with the web. With books and print one sees successful copyright suits all the time, but the web is an evolving thing. I guess we have to deal with it, but your generosity of spirit seems to have you well situated to roll with the current state of things.
That I copied and pasted it into a post on my blog and took full credit for it 😉 🙂 =))
Seriously though, Greg, great piece.
I keep seeing “recipes are not copyrightable,” but that needs a bit of clarification. It is the list of ingredients that is not copyrightable; the directions are. But my comment is really about something else.
Whatever topic is under discussion, kindness should prevail. As you did, Greg, I would prefer to bow out of a discussion that gets ugly. Life is too short to spend with contentious people, whether in the room with me or in the “ether”!
Solomon said over 3,000 years ago, there’s nothing new under the sun. If you’ve collected recipes for over 30 years like I have (way before the Internet), you know it’s especially true of them.
And as for FB and friends, when you use the two in succession in a sentence, the “friends” definitely belongs in quotes.
This has been a matter of contention for some time amongst bloggers Greg. I would consider it the the best form of flattery if someone tried one of my recipes and linked back to me. I have put a recipe out there in the past and it was posted and reposted, and at some point where the recipe originated was lost. And yet the idea for the recipe came from my own teenage years and I did not invent the recipe, although tweak it I did. I am sure that I have mentioned before of a high profile blogger and his ownership of a butterscotch pudding recipe. Phweh. If you click publish your recipes and thoughts are then public domain and if I know the source I always give credit where credit is due. Of course there are those who claim recipes, words, etc as there own and that is a different story although as you said still unavoidable.
Hey Greg, this is Caitlin’s husband. Wonderful piece.
As a legal matter you’re right, first of all. Whether on the web or not, recipes may not be copyrighted, though books of them may. By analogy, theoreticallyt the collection fo them on your blog could be, though only as a group, not individually.
I view a new recipe as akin to a breaking news story. When one news organization reports a breaking story, others essentially glom on, and at first they largely copy. The original news org does not have a monopoly on that story, nor a copyright on the facts. But the other news organziations are required to provide attribution, as a matter of professional courtesy. That to me is the worst problem on the web with recipes — the failure to understand the importance of informal attribution of recipes. Because it is an amateur society (and I don’t mean amateur pejoratively), there is not that sense of professional courtesy, which exists for very good reasons in other contexts like mainstream journalism, and in law.
General text I think is fair game for copyright, whether on the web or not, and photos certainly are. I do not fully suscribe to the idea that just because it is technologically easier to “steal” or “copy” online content, that the policy reasons for protecting content should be any different. That to me seems like the cart leading the horse. In fact it may be an argument for greater copyright protections. After all, copyright as we know it did not need to exist when books were just a few monks illuminating manuscripts. It was only after the printing press, a new technology, made copying easier (does that sound familiar?? 🙂 ) that modern copyright laws even developed. There has to be something done to protect creaters of content. The counterargument of course is that content has been devalued because of the number of people producing it. I get it, but I think the best content will always deserve protection, and in order to protect the best content, one must provide a broader protection of content in general.
Have a nice weekend!
Kenyon
I’m not really sure what went down in facebook, nor does it matter. I’m glad you took a stand and are sharing with us your sentiments. In my opinion; isn’t that the whole point of blogging? Sharing, inspring, teaching? ‑Don’t feel so bad now for living in my little rabbit hole these past few months, no bullies there. 😉
You are very well spoken, and I love that you have been able to express youself in this space. Even if I don’t feel the same way on every point, I love how you’ve said it. I have nothing but respect for you and your opinion, and in a way I wish I was able to ignore and let it go as well as you do. I also love to see people bulldog and defend their own rights and thier content. But we all have to deal with these issues in ways that we feel most comfortable, and for each of us that’s different. I support they way you see things.
I may not entirely agree with your point of view, but respect your opinion. Unfortunate that you described the group as bullies since it appeared to be a handful of people out of a much larger group. I’m sorry if you felt that you were being mistreated. I always hate to see people leave the group as there are so many wonderful and helpful people in the group. Wish you all the best and hope you will consider rejoining at some point.
Hi Greg! I met you this year at Foodbuzz. This popped up and I’m so sorry that your “friends” treated your opinions that way. Hoping not to get lambasted here… I understand their side. They put real time and effort into it, while someone else essentially copies them with little to no effort. Often from childhood you’re told to accept this copying as a form of flattery. Whatever. The fact remains that recipes are a special case: you can’t copyright recipes. And as you state with the sugar cookies, it is very unlikely that anyone can claim to be the original person to come up with it. What “may” be copyright-able is the “literary expression … that accompanies a recipe or formula…”
In the past, I’ve praised and linked to recipe sources, while including the recipe in its entirety. When it comes to food, I am not a creator. So was what I did wrong? It’s legal, but maybe it wasn’t fully right either. Maybe I shouldn’t be writing about food at all. I try to build people up with my blog, to link up to people as often as I can, because I want to support the humans on the other side of the screen. Including the recipe might not be the best way to acheive this goal.
On the subject of not being credited for your work — any work — comes down to lazy, clueless or selfish bloggers. I’ve had people steal an entire post of mine and claim it as theirs. That is illegal, as my literary expression is protected under copyright, and also it’s wrong. Yet, I’m not surprised because the nature of the beast is the internet — hello trolls. We can’t reap the benefits of it without dealing with some setbacks. Another blogger also reposted a free printable I designed on their site without giving credit to where it came from. I was upset to not be credited, and if they had claimed it as their own, I would have emailed the blogger. Yet, I gave it for free on my site in the first place, so my right to be upset is pretty limited.
Wow Greg, this is something I think about all the time. So many of the recipes I make on my blog are very slight adaptations of another blogger, who proabably adapted their recipe from someone else, and so on. It’s so hard to know who “owns” anything, but I think as long as we reference, and enjoy each others work the world can go ’round. Great post! I hope you find another group that is more open to having an adult discussion. xx
I’m sorry you left the group, Greg. I thought your points were well stated and I agree to some extent. I do feel annoyed at my content and images being re-published in full sometimes (and sometimes they take the whole damn post, not just the recipe), particularly when the site that re-publishes it gains monetarily from it. Many of these so-called scraper sites do so for the sole reason of financial gain. It takes a lot to write a website with original content…it takes practically nothing to scoop up others’ content, slap a few Adsense ads on it, and make a few bucks.
That said, I don’t think the particular website in question is doing that. They don’t exist for the sole purpose of scraping content, and one of their people has reached out to me which I thought was showing some initiative. It’s a user-generated site and many of these users have no concept that they are harming the bloggers in any way. They are just sharing recipes they liked. For a big site, it would be hard to police every user to make sure they understand such policies.
And it’s an uphill battle. The internet is the new form of media, but it changes so fast and it’s so hard to police. We are all changing and growing with it, and who knows where it will end up? I usually don’t bother doing anything about my scraped content, although in a few instances I did report sites to Google adsense (hit em where it hurts, when they are just doing it for profit).
But I certainly did not think you were treated kindly, and for that I am sorry. I chose to stay out of that little battle. Everyone has the right to their opinions, if diplomatically stated, and yours certainly were.
Hi Carolyn, I just want to respond to your comment that “it takes practically nothing to scoop up others’ content, slap a few Adsense ads on it, and make a few bucks”.
It’s absolutely true that it takes very little effort for an individual to cut and paste other people’s content into a blog or to build an automated system that slurps someone’s RSS feed and republish it publicly word for word. But while I don’t agree with what certain recipe sharing sites are doing (in particular, ones that encourage people to cut and paste recipes in), it’s not neccessarily true that it took “practically nothing” to build them. It’s extremely hard to run a startup, it takes long hours of work and often a significant amount of financial risk. Even a site that just encourages people to cut and paste other people’s content in probably took many thousands of people hours to design, code, and build and I’m sure the founders spent a lot of their own money.
In my case, it took six months of research and development (in my spare time from my old day job) to build the first version of our web crawler (the FeastieBot) that can interpret any recipe on the web using Natural Language Processing, which is considered one of the hardest open topics of computer science today. Since I quit my day job in July of 2011, I’ve been without a salary — that means zero household income since I’m single. I’ve lived off of a trickle of freelance work, savings, and credit cards. I work 80+ hours a week and haven’t had a vacation since 2010. I don’t know how many people lump Feastie in as another scraper site (I know some do and I don’t know if that includes you) but if anyone thinks it took “practically nothing” to build it, well that literally couldn’t be further from the truth.
On the one hand…I see your point. On the other, I was actually thinking more along the lines of some of these sites that aren’t interesting recipe startups, but that republish a post IN FULL. Just cut and paste and hey, there’s my content on someone else’s page. This happened to me recently on a post I worked extremely hard on, in which I gathered many bloggers together to raise awareness for diabetes. I also happened to be giving away a kitchenaid mixer and some kitchenware site caught onto that and used it for their own gain by publishing the whole thing the very next day in it’s entirity. And it was very much a slap my content in (the whole lengthy post with my own personal reflections and all the images), and call it their own, purely for adsense clicks.
As I said in my comment to Greg, the site in question was not of this ilk in my opinion. They are user-generated content and it doesn’t strike me as out simply scrape content. I am not sure about Feastie, I have no idea. The sites I prefer are the ones that take the RSS feeds and link to the blogger. Does Feastie do that?
Still, I think you rather missed the point of my comment because I did not implicate sites like Key Ingredient as a full-on content scraper
Indeed, the train of thought that lead to my comment started after I read your first paragraph and I kind of glossed over the rest.
We do link out (in a frame), we don’t copy.
Glad to hear it! 🙂 Sounds like we are on the same page after all.
Seriously, Greg, well said. How many bloggers when they first started (me included) posted OTHER PEOPLE’S RECIPES (with credit given), as well as our own, on our blogs? We shared what we loved. And many of these bloggers are high and mighty now and complain when their recipe is printed on another site. Seriously? And these are my “friends,” too. A picture is one thing, but a recipe? Change the words, add an extra ingredient and some people claim it a new recipe. How many chefs recreated Beef Bourguignon, but it’s all basically the same recipe, yet they each say their’s is distinct. PLEASE. We get inspired by what we see and what we eat. We travel and learn about new cultures, spices and foods. We recreate what we saw and ate. Is it really all original and “new?” I have a love-hate relationship with the internet, too, but I agree with you. If you put it out there, don’t be surprised if it gets reprinted, copied, stolen, etc… It’s called karma. What goes around, comes around. Share the love, baby!
…and I agree that a recipe can often be difficult to own regardless of what anyone thinks. But naïveté is immediately suspect when making money comes into play. Remove the web from this situation. I photocopy a passage from my favorite book — say a particularly well written description and decide to incorporate it into a piece of my own writing which is then submitted as mine — for credit or payment– even if I’ve shifted the words a bit, paraphrasing is a form of plagiarism which has never been tolerated. So I say share, indeed. But without the potential for making money on the back of someone else’s work. It’s very easy to share by only providing a link. It’s no different than passing someone the title of a good book.
…the point is you can’t remove the web from the situtaion. And until (and I believe it will) the web figures out a better policing system– thievery (naive or illicit) is a cost of doing business. GREG
So well timed and beautifully written. Thank you so much for sharing these thoughts. I agree with you. I think that people who are creative and spend time on their art tend to understand this principle naturally and those people who consume art tend to not intuitively understand what it takes to create it. That lack of understanding sometimes leads to all sorts of problems–and in my point of view, theft–that results in issues of copyright infringement and unapproved content usage.
I’m glad you took this issue off of Facebook (the home of the status bar rant) and back to your thoughtful home turf where you could speak about the subject in a more meaninful way.
Great post Greg! I saw ‘the comment’ you are referring to and wondered how that would go down. Not really, I knew how it would be received. 😉 Having solely worked in the wild world of WWW for the past 7 years I have become all too familiar with the topic you discuss. You are spot on with most of your observations…and yes, that’s very unpopular with those who think the WWW space should work differently — but it doesn’t. There are ways to protect your content that I have reached out to some people to help them with, but the responses I have received have caused me to stop helping. Do I like it when someone re-posts my content without attribution? No, but I’ve got bigger things to focus on. I don’t need to crowdsource my hurt little feelings. Again, great post.
The web is a mind-boggling tool which can enhance how we live and even help in saving lives which some might say is the ultimate reason to have it. Unfortunately like most things it does have it’s dark side and things can get ugly very quickly. But your right we shouldn’t and can’t just let that fear make us not do certain things which make us happy, including giving our opinion. Sometimes it’s not the web where the problem lies, it’s from the fingers tapping the keyboard. For the longest time I did not want to bring children into this shitty world but slowly came to realise, why should I not keep traveling on my happy path just because some other people choose to make bad decisions? An ultimatum from my wife provided a little incentive to move on this project also 🙂
What, no sugar cookie recipe?? 😉
This is a very complex subject. Recipes can’t be coyrighted so if you put it out for everyone to see then you shouldn’t be surprised when others take it. However, the web is nothing more than a new form of distribution. In the past, recipes in the newpaper were used by anyone. There was a time that those that used the recipe for journaistic reasons would give credit. It was a code of ethics in journalism. With the internet, we have too many people that don’t subscribe to any code of ethics and have never been taught journalistic ethics and integrity so things have changed.
Turning to a slightly different subject, I feel differntly about words and pictures. These are copyrighted items and protected, whether in print or electronic. No one, even in the wild world of the web, should take or use someone else’s words or pictures without express written permission.
There are no barriers to entry on the web. There are no companies or panels or editors to assure journalistic integrity. These groups were put in place to assure quality and also assured that the media wouldn’t get sued. However, more bloggers are getting sued for the improper use of copyrighted material and I believe this trend will continue.
Ethical standards will evolve.
I am with you, Sir, only I could never express it with such clarity, reason and truth. As a mom, I would like to say that your analogy to children works for me, as does your thoughtful exploration of the nuances here. Bottom line to me is, my recipes are mine and not mine at the same time. Proprietary focus on recipes leads us down the wrong roads and away from the connections and generosity and nourishment and community that are the gifts of the kitchen, food, cooking, and eating in this world. Not a single one of my recipes in my books, articles, or blog, is MINE-mine. At this point in humanity’s presence on this sweet earth, what could be original, new, unique, or own-able? I WANT my Thai green curry or Singapore noodles or persimmon pudding to be like the classic, traditional dish that had long enough legs to exist before me and catch my attention. I research to pare away personal touches that showed up along the way (for example, candied cherries in Lane Cake filling, a 60’s/70’s I think-addition to a turn of the 20th century cake). Culinary school is all about learning the essentials, the basics, the foundations. Should a chef list all the culinary instructors in her/his educational process? Which one gets credit for mother sauces, butchery, puff pastry, piping #101? Even cooks/writers who unlike me seek to create new dishes rather than document, preserve or reintroduce old ones, have a problem. Just because you create something you have never seen before, out of your imagination, does not mean you are the first or the only. Somebody else could dream up the very same thing, using the very same tool: Imagination! Creativity! Inspiration! It’s unworthy of us to fret and snort and blame and get all mean and police‑y about this, while people are hungry and cold and sleeping outdoors. There are wrongs and evils in the world. This is not on the list. We tend to worship New! and First! and I‑Know-Something-You-Don’t-Know, when we would perhaps be better served by doing what my Education professor at UNC‑G told our class of novice junior high English teachers two decades ago: “Give away the magic.”