The Family Cookbook Project

Category: Resources on the Web

  • 10 Ways to Celebrate Family History Month

    Kimberly Powell of About.com shares her ten ways to celebrate Family History Month and #2 was create a family cookbook:

    She writes:

    A perfect recipe for family history, a cookbook of collected heirloom recipes is a wonderful way to preserve memories of favorite meals shared with family. Contact your parents, grandparents, and other relatives and ask them to send you a few of their favorite family recipes. Have them include a story about each dish, where or who it was handed down from, why it is a family favorite, and when it was traditionally eaten (Christmas, family reunions, etc.). Whether you create a full-blown family cookbook, or just make copies for family and friends – this is a gift that will be cherished forever.

  • Copywriting Recipes

    One issue that comes up regularly for family cookbook project editors is the topic of copywriting recipes and proper usage. While we at the FamilyCookbookProject.com are not lawyers and do not give legal advice, our research shows that recipes can not generally be copyrighted.

    At the same time, it is not right to simply take credit for other people’s work. One way to avoid this is to give credit were credit is due. If your contributor submits a recipe that they originally found in a magazine or cookbook, it is appropriate to list the source in the notes section of the recipe.

    A few articles of interest in this topic

    Copyright Office flyer on recipes
    http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl122.pdf

    Copyrighting Recipes
    http://smallbusiness.findlaw.com/copyright/copyright-realworld/recipe-copyrighting.html

    Questions & Answers – Copyrighting Recipes
    http://whatscookingamerica.net/Q-A/CookbookAdvice.htm