Is that theft?

Question

A chef eats at her rival's restaurant, goes home, reverse-engineers the signature dish by taste, and puts it on her own menu — at half the price, across the street.

Accepted Answer

Recipes can't be copyrighted at all. Every cuisine you love is a thousand years of chefs doing exactly this. Culture may just be theft with better PR. (28% of Americans answer "Theft" — floor est.)