As a former resident of Honolulu, I may have noticed the idea of majority rule, where generally it would seem that everyone else’s culture dominates. I was beaten for being White or at least sounding like one, since my olive skin as a Italian, who surfed made me darker than many. The idea of a white person coming in and getting recipes for a cookbook, where such recipes are all over the Internet, is rather absurd. Having been in the restaurant business for 40 years, I know that chefs borrow and manipulate recipes all the time. I don’t think you can protect a recipe that comes from a culture rather than an individual, who keeps it a secret. Ask The Colonel (Kentucky Fried Chicken) about this. Chefs either share their recipes or not. But, let’s consider the culture of the Western world. Things are stolen all the time by China, for example. technology of Computer Science, architecture, automobiles, and so on. In the United States, we have copyright and patent laws and an application process for each. This is a way to protect intellectual property, but I must admit that it has failed me, because as you said, it costs money to play the game, and I do not know if this has been instituted, but there was talk that rather than the individual getting credit and thus compensation, it was the manufacturer, who did. I used to copyright all my creative work, but because I was so prolific and the Copyright Office now requires single break up of particular works, for example, as relates to musical works, as well as raising the price, I cannot justify the expense, so the platform I use serves as the copyright assurity of both the date of publication and an algorithm that listens for and notifies of and/or addresses unpermitted theft. As an artist for most of my life, I have seldom been compensated for my work, and thus the process for doing so is neither cultural, racial, nor geographic. The only one privileged to be protected is the person, who is so inclined.

You did not provide the recipe. You are not an actor in the process. Your role is moot, except to complain about something that you assign to race. The recipe in your example relates to a particular culture within a non-White sphere. I know, or believe to know, that every country is protective of intellectual property and recognizes industrial theft. How they protect themselves is less about ethnicity and more about process.

I am excited about you and would love to sit with you post-pandemic because you have inspired me. Again, having grown in Hawaii allowed me to see the argument of majority rule clearly. In every culture this takes place. In Hawaii I was treated as a second-class citizen, but I managed to create many things of beauty, even garnering a “master’s equivalent” in photography, according to the Dean of the Art School at the University of Hawaii (Manoa) at the time, and I guess I could have capitalized on my products, but I always seemed to be productive and less protective.

Again, should you visit me, I will write a song, compose a piano solo, paint a painting, photograph… create any number of things for you.

But, if you want protection for your products, you’ll have to keep them secret, or engage in a procedure that protects them. In my case, I just have to prove that the items are mine. The problem I have is that either what I produce is of no value or I haven’t been granted enough exposure.

In any case, the invitation still stands. Come over and let me entertain you! Your problem is not ethnic but procedural.