oh gosh and bother

I originally set up this blog to publish some of my own (original) recipes, but of late, I've spent more time dealing with copyright and similar issues, and so for the time being, I'd like to use this space to explore that subject further, from the author and editor's point of view.

I'm David Whitehouse and in 2011, I was the editor on my partner Dan Lepard's book "Short & Sweet" (Fourth Estate, £25). It's a very big book: more than 250 baking recipes, 574 pages and around 113,000 words, and I can speak for Dan and everyone else involved in the book when I say that we are really pleased with the book and delighted that so many people have embraced it.

But one thing that publishing Short & Sweet has brought more closely into focus is the issue of copyright. Particularly the fact that some food bloggers don't seem to get the idea that, while it's good if they do something new, that's their own, it isn't so fine if they simply take content from books or other peoples' websites and re-publish it without permission: the matter of copyright.

So what I'd like to do here is explore what copyright actually means in food writing, what I think "best practice" is for food bloggers, and why it matters.