Today I made Eggs in a Bell Peppers Basket.

I have seen those a few times just recently, in cooking magazines or the intertubes. But it’s hard to tell where the recipe originated from. (Well, apparently it’s not rocket science.)

One of the earlier incarnations (from where I picked up the recipe name) came up with a quick search, mentioning Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine…

Interestingly, it came to my mind how unprotected food recipes are in terms of copyright, patents and all that legal issues currently surrounding news, music, movies or software. And still a lot of people can make money from publishing recipes and opening up restaurants.

The source of a recipe does not matter so much, instead sharing recipes is quite a tradition (though sometimes there is some secrecy involved, too).

Could we not adopt this as the prototype for sharing other basic human desires currently protected by antique laws?