All these great recipes here.

So when are we doing a DU cookbook?

You volunteering to put it together? :evilgrin:

Just putting the idea out there to see if someone else will do all the work. It's called 'delegating' ;)

But seriously, there are so many great recipes. I did one from DU last week, the brined pork chops, and I am going to try the mystery pasta dish that H2S posted. And bearfan's picture posts are fab. We could do an online database or something, like Allrecipes.

That's a great idea! If done right, it could serve as a fund raiser. I'm happy to share anything I have.

He said the idea has come up before but there are concerns about copyright issues since many of the recipes we share were published in cookbooks. I don't think that's an issue if we make cookbooks to share but it would be if we make them to sell.

but I am printing em out like crazy lol

Whose to say who "owns" a recipe?

I posted a recipe the other day for Gooey Cake. It so happens I've made it for years and have no idea where I got the recipe (I didn't develope it). The exact recipe is now in a book called "The Cake Doctor", published at least 10 years after I first heard of the cake. I use Philly cheese, maybe it's in their recipe base, too. It uses a cake mix, maybe once upon a time Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines, or both, had it on the box. The Cake Doctor book doesn't say where they got it and it sure wasn't from me.

So, who owns recipes and how do you know? All sorts of organizations print cookbooks and a good many of the recipes are pretty basic to most anyone who has been cooking as long as I have.

Now if they are off a box, you can say "Here's a great recipe I use which was printed on a Rice-a-Roni box in the 80s." But really, millions of people make baked beans and there can't be more than 100 variations of them and even less on the ingredients, just measurements take it that high. Yet they appear in cookbooks and magazines on a regular basis, at least since I was old enough to read.

Personally, the only thing I care about in a recipe is that it's been made by a real person, at home in a real kitchen and not some hotsy-totsy "test kitchen" by a committee of degreed nutritionists with an unlimited budget and every gadget known.

Mary

IACP - International Association of Culinary Professionals. They're not only cookbook authors, they're food writers, TV hosts, chefs, any one who is a "culinary professional". They use the same association management company we do. Since I am a past president and Fellow of our association, I know the staff very, very well. I am reading this at 5.44 PM EST, so I won't get any answer before Monday at the earliest, but I'll send 'em an e-mail and find out.

As to who owns a recipe, that's a really, really tough one. What's a recipe? Bread, eggs, milk, sugar and maybe some flavor is French toast. Does Irma Rombauer own it? Its in her cookbook. But it is in a bazillion others, too. The name of a special variation might be "owned". The "style" of a twist on French toast might be "owned". But make one variation and the ownership's gone.

I suspect we'd be on safe ground. Even if such a cookbook were to be published, it would likely have attribution to each recipe author (like the ubiquitous church or civic group cookbooks do). And the cookbook itself would be a compendium or collection ... and edited list, if you will. The "ownership" of any given recipe would be up to the contributor, I should think.

Anyway, I'll ask.

This is what I sent. Hopefully I'll hear back early next:

Hi (name),

I need some help. I'm working with a group who wants to put a charity type cookbook together to sell for a fundraiser. I'm sure you know the type. The kind every church or civic group does with recipes from all the blue haired old ladies - and broken down old guys like me!.

Anyway, is there someone on the IACP staff you could put me in touch with? I need to ask about copyrights and recipe "ownership". Surely some of the recipes in such books were gotten from a cookbook somewhere along the way. Is there a risk to the organization in publishing such a recipe and then selling the book?

Thanks for any help you can give me in putting me in touch with someone who might know about this.

By the way, the DVD arrived today. Haven't had a chance to watch it yet, but many, many, many thanks!

Mille grazie!!!!!

M

nor is any Democratic org.

will that make a diff?

we could maybe do it for the red cross or for a veteran's group charity, but as a DU fundraiser will it get tricky?

but I'll ask when I follow up.

This is the company we used to publish they cookbook. They really did a nice job, and were very helpful in putting it together. I'm sure they could answer any questions you may have. It was a fun project, but I'm not sure I would want to organize another one.

http://www.gandrpublishing.com/

I'm still in the process of tracking things down. Seems there's an association for the publishers of these "compendium" cookbooks! (There must be an association for everything! I know for a fact that there is an association of associations!!!) My contact got back to me and suggested I contacted them. That e-mail is now sent.

So .... so far no answer, but one may be coming ...... stay tuned ..... we now return to our regularly scheduled cooking .....

This is my reply from the person who knows about such things and publishes such recipe books.

Recipes cannot be copyrighted....there are simply too many variations to ever document the origin. It is the "body of work" or the cookbook that is actually copyrighted. The organization would be the publisher and therefore own the copyright. We would be happy to help you produce the book should you need our services. Check out our website at <websitename> for more information.

Hope that answers your question.

Cordially
<name>

I think this looks quite promising. As I understand this answer, it would appear that no recipe can be copyrighted. It is the surrounding text, the format, the book, that is copyrighted.

My conclusion is that if Recipes that Real Americans Enjoy (or whatever it gets called) were to be published, DU would hold the copyright. Now, to be sure, DU (or whoever might actually publish this) would need to do some real due diligence with respect to the legal matters before it goes much further.

So ..... where do we go from here? As I said, I am happy to contribute recipes, but I frankly do not have the time to devote to this project so as to give it the care and love it deserves.

certainly DU must be plush with attorneys posting here.

We should be able to get a volunteer for that aspect.

Mary

is there a demand for this? Would people actually pony up the $$$'s for it? And then is it something the owners of this site even want? And finally, who would organize it. Lots of people would contribute recipes, but someone with some publishing or editing experience would have to step up to do the organization.

We could call it 'Comfort Food for Sad Democrats' (people probably won't like that, too defeatist), 'Freedom Food', 'Protest Provisions' (too much alliteration, I'll stop), 'Recipes from the DU Cafe' and on and on....

all the recipes.

yanno....... another easier way may be to just start something on Demopedia

i think it can handle it. When the inlaws leave and I get all my shipping done (hehehehe H2S) then I might play around with starting a Demopedia page then every one can just post their owe recipes

give me an idea of a list of categories?

Appetizers
Salads
Entrees
Side Dishes
Vegetarian
Desserts
Baking


any others?

of course the RECIPES !! but at least we have a place to start :)



http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/DU_Recipes

I dunno diddly from squat about this Demopedia thing.

There could also be subcategories of main categories:

Lite/Low Calorie

Budget/Low Cost

Quick/30 Minutes or Less

Good Enough for Guests

Party/Crowd Pleasers

Kid Approved

Holiday/Seasonal

Maybe these are icons or abbreviations that can be used to describe recipes, like you see on restaurant listings.

So a tuna casserole might be labeled B/Q/KA (budget, quick, kid approved).

Too complicated? Unnecessary? Let folks figure it out for themselves?

:hi:

i'm barely able to get the thing started. I am flailing and clueless when it comes to formatting :)

I haven't posted there yet, and I'm guessing that icons would have to be hosted on another page, like any posted image...that's why I suggested abbreviations, though icons are better. But maybe it's too ambitious at this stage. Maybe the recipes themselves are enough.

I love the demopedia project. I'm no great cook but I often visit allrecipes looking for budget and low fat options, and the occasional indulgence. :)

Admin said 'no" the first time around.. don't know what happened in the subsequent attempts :)

was it just one attempt or many? If just one, it may be worth another asking. If many, then we're paddlin' upstream.

Maybe.

I have always thought it was a good idea :)

I'll submit some recipes if it's a GO:)

go I think, see the entry here and post away :)

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/DU_Recipes