A couple of months ago I mentioned that one of my unique recipes had shown up in a national magazine. Both b5media and I contacted  the magazine to ask that they give me attribution for the recipe. The magazine didn’t even acknowledge our emails, or the emails of the lawyers.  If they will do it to me they will do it to any of you that are food blogging. After all, I had a network and network lawyers behind me and they still ignored us… The magazine is Tea Time, which is put out by Southern Lady.  Hoffman Media, LLC.

Recipe copyright is a tricky thing. You can’t copyright a list of ingredients…and really, the magazine was within it’s rights to publish the recipe. Legally they did nothing wrong. But the recipe was one that I had developed over a long period of time, one I had worked on to get just right..and spent money on… and it was unusual. In fact, if you list the ingredients in google, my recipe is the only one that comes up.

So, we weren’t talking about them using a recipe for chocolate chip cookies here. This was for white silk and berry tarts..and it took me a long time to get it just right. You see, just white chocolate and heavy cream, the way you would make a chocolate ganache is too rich. White chocolate and butter is too…bland…

After several tries I found that what chocolate and sour cream were just right. The perfect combination and back drop for the berries I chose. I published this recipe last May, almost exactly a year ago. White Silk and Berry Tarts.  I used premade shells because I had been concentrating on testing the filling…

Everyone that tried them loved them.  The slight almond flavor, the creaminess, the tanginess of the sour cream. Perfect.

Now, I do work for a network. I do make an income from blogging and freelance writing.  As some of you know, Marc became disabled 2 years ago and lost his job. We have been fighting with the VA to get his benefits. For awhile we were not sure where our next meal was coming from..seriously money has been tight.

This is not a hobby for me. I love it but Baking Delights, Kettle and Cup, and the other writing I do feeds my family and pays our bills.I don;t just write here. I write about 15 hours a day to make our budget.

So, I read Tea Time Magazine because I love the images, the recipes and the tea articles. I have been a reader, although not every issue, for a couple of years. Imagine how I felt, laying in bed one night and paging through my newest copy (May/June 2009) and coming upon a recipe for White Silk Tartlets.

Me:”Hey Marc! Look! Someone has a similar recipe to mine in a MAGAZINE!”

Marc:”Really? Let me see.”

We begin to read the recipe….

Marc:”Ummm, Kid? That IS your recipe.”

Me: “Seriously? No they wouldn’t do that..must be a coincidence…”

I pulled up the laptop and went to my recipe.  Here it is:

Marye’s White Silk Tarts

16 tart shells of choice (pastry, graham, puff pastry etc.)

1 c unsalted butter

3/4 c sugar

6 ozs good quality white chocolate melted in 1/3 c heavy cream and cooled to room temperature

1 tsp vanilla flavor

1/2 tsp almond flavor

2 TBS sour cream

2 eggs

1/2 pt blackberries, raspberries or both

Bittersweet chocolate for drizzle

+++++

The I looked at their recipe. Page 33.  Forgive me as I blatantly copy their recipe off:

6 oz white chocolate chopped

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

tartlet shells

6 oz blueberries

6 oz raspberries

Melted white chocolate for garnish.

++++++++++++++

Instructions are basically the same. They sweetly used their own words.

The next day Matthew said, “Wow Mom! These tarts on the COVER of Tea Time look just like yours!

“Actually Matt, they look better, their photographer is much better than me but other than that THEY ARE MINE.”

I was astounded. I was sure that they had just made a mistake. SO I emailed them, expecting an email back. I mean, my recipe had made the cover of a national magazine that I admired! Surely I would get a quick apology and a small attribution in another issue….

They didn’t even say eff-you.  Nothing.

Nothing. It says By Valerie Kramer Davis, recipe development by Chantel Lambeth…Which is interesting since she was certainly NOT at my house while I worked on that filling…My poor family was forced to eat mounds of white silk..mounds of it I tell you!

So, am I writing this because I am angry?

Yeah, I am. I am angry that a big, profitable magazine would steal from a broke food blogger. If I had written one of there recipes without attribution I think I would have heard about it.

And you know what? I have inadvertently taken recipes from other bloggers without meaning to. Especially when I first started blogging. But as soon as I was made aware of it I apologized publicly and made it right as much as I could. Because I was raised that way.

You know, if this was a common recipe I really would not feel comfortable saying anything..but as you can see it is not. I am angry. Obviously I will NOT be buying the magazine anymore..which is kind of scary because if they will steal once what will stop them from stealing again?And if they do how will I know?

I don’t believe in signing some blogger’s ethics paper, or joining a bloggers group that has rules about what you can and can’t do. I think that everyone knows what is right and wrong and people can err on the side of caution and ask permission. You know, I would have said, “SURE! Just mention the blog!”

Several months ago a magazine contacted me by email. Niagara Magazine Group out of Canada wanted to use one of my images, with attribution. They asked if it would be ok..  I said, “SURE!” and they even sent me the magazine!

I am not a difficult person to get along with. I think I am pretty reasonable. But I have this thing about lying and stealing. I don’t like it. And I think, especially if you are a public figure, lying and stealing is…well….I don’t want to say unforgivable… but…beyond unethical. I, for one, do not want to be associated with an unethical company.

Food bloggers, really, there is no way to combat this individually. We are too small. But together we are a pretty scary force on the internet. As I told someone this morning..I have a spatuala and I know how to use it!

Try to notice what is on other blogs and then as you are looking around the internet or through magazines take note of anything that looks too familiar. Let’s help each other in this.  Also, if you find that a company or another blog has used your stuff email them. If they don’t fix it…let’s start calling them out. Do you really want to support a magazine like Tea Time that not only plagiarizes other work but refuses to acknowledge their mistake?

Another thing I do is to google my name, and Baking Delights regularly. I also run random pages through CopyScape AND I generally hide a link in the post that links back to one of my blogs or websites so I can track the blog thief.

I am very disappointed, frustrated, and hurt. I am pretty sure that they made a heck of a lot more on my recipe than I did.

Tea Time comes across as being a genteel, feminine magazine…but turns out to be little more than a bully in a frilly dress and a push up bra….. ” I can do this because I am bigger than you.”

Yep, Tea Time, you can.

You are bigger, wealthier, and more powerful than me…but I have something you will never have again. My respect, and I am guessing the respect of more than one of your readers.

Oh… and thank you for saying that this was your best dessert ever…I will take that as a compliment.

Images:(c) Marye Audet (that means I took them with my camera at my table a few minutes ago) 2009

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Didn’t she do a great job?  Now, with that I feel complete and ready to surf.

It is a windy, overcast..maybe will rain today kind of day…I have thoughts of heading out to the front porch to blog.  We have one of those great southern style verandas..the width of the main part of the front of our house and about 10 feet deep.  I have wicker up there.  This is what it looks like when it is clean:

It doesn’t look like that right now, mind you…but hey, that image is preferable to the real one. :::Marye sighs deeply:::

Now…a rant.

First, I want to preface this with a nod to legality.  The truth is that a recipe cannot be copyrighted.  Once it is out there it is out there for anyone to use as they wish.  It is only right an fair.  However there is more or less a foodie creed, a code of honor if you will, that if you are using someone’s recipe you credit them, mention that they inspired you or whatever.  Most of the recipes I use on Baking Delights are either from my antique cookbook collection, or I have developed them.  Recipe development is a hobby that I enjoy. Normally if I am inspired by a recipe on someone else’s blog I have learned that it is a courtesy to mention them. When I first started blogging I was not aware of that and some of you kindly pointed me in the right direction.

Yesterday I bought the May/June issue of Tea Time Magazine, which is put out by Southern Lady.  I love this magazine and have been a big fan of it..I have promoted it on Kettle and Cup.  Imagine how I felt last night at 11 p.m when, paging through I saw a recipe for White Silk Tarlets with Berries which I had published May 18, 2008….Eleven months ago.  I thought, “WOW! What a cool coincidence, someone had the same idea as me!”

And then I started reading the recipe.  Every ingredient was exact and in the same proportions except they used raspberries and blueberries instead of raspberries and blackberries.  If you have Tea Time you can look on page 33 and compare it to my recipe linked above.  I had used graham shells that day because I was in a hurry..theirs look admittedly better.  I am sad, angry, and frustrated all at the same time.  At best it is rude…and I am disappointed.  I have contacted both b5media (the network that owns Baking Delights) and Tea Time Magazine.  Oh, and I will be googling the other recipes to make sure that they haven’t been lifted off you blogs as well. So ..we start off on that note.

On to more fun things, o.k.?

Recessionipes used one of my favorite flavors, ginger, in an ice cream recipe she adapted from David Lebovitz.  You have to love a blog where the bloggerista breaks the costs down for ya to per serving.  Way to go!

Imagine…Chocolate-Almond-Brown Rice Pudding.  Now, go see it.  Our own, Canadian Baker Too (Hendria) has the coolest image of this dish.  It looks luscious.

The flavor of Meyer lemons can’t be beat for intense lemony goodness.  Check out this Meyer Lemon and Chocolate Tart at Dessert First.

I like whole grains..and I like healthy food.  I know it doesn’t always look that way here but it is true.  Besides, the healthier you eat the mor eyou can handle the really GOOD desserts rather than limping along with the low- fat -low- sugar -cardboard -that -looks- like -dessert desserts.  This is on my list of must try for this summer when our kitchen gets too hot to cook, Quinoa, Watercress and Mango Salad with Lime-Curry Vinaigrette. That just sounds amazingly refreshing.

Tanna, from My Kitchen in Half Cups has an interesting Ethiopian Injera. It looks like it was a challenge, even for her..and I am trying to gain the courage to give it a go.  She is in Shelby Michigan at the moment, and it is funny because it seems that Michigan is one more thing we have in common.  Most of my relatives are there, the few I have left…and I spent many many summers there.

Also, Kelly at Evil Shenanigans and I were talking and we are thinking of having a Foodie Fiesta , Foodie Feast, Foodie something here in the Dallas area.  If you are a food blogger within driving distance of Dallas and you would be interested in getting together and maybe making it a semi regular thing, email me at maryeaudetATgmailDOTcom  (dont forget to substitute the @ and .) We’ll see if we can get something cool going.

I am cutting it short today..I want to work on my Daring Bakers post for the 27th..as well as other projects I have going…have an awesome day and a great weekend!!!

Image:Cori Gagnier

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