Just Copy It Online

When last did you stroll around the food court at the mall? Chinese food is one thing that stands out because it has a glaze to it. It’s caused by sauces and other ingredients they use. How do I know? YouTube cooking lessons, but that doesn’t make me an expert.

I’m the dumb one. Because there’s no copyright online, copy cats that use the same ingredients and the Chinese method of cooking, have sprung up like mushrooms. The internet is an open plan, the sky is the limit literally, but there’s no harm in owning up and credit people who create original ideas, fresh content.

Chicken breasts are another example where one cook came up with the idea, now others are claiming it as their own. They make a slit wide enough to stuff two kinds of cheese, then pan fry them. The original content creator cannot claim copyright because of the nature of the beast, the internet beast.

It's for sharing. There’s also something called re-tweets. No wait. Re-tweeting is better because you flood your followers with something in its original form. You don’t pretend as if you created it. Not like online cooking. You steal the idea, change one ingredient and paste your name on it.

Another example are snap beans, green beans in some parts of the world. The YouTube recipe caught my eye because they were my mother’s favourite. The first cook I saw is Korean. I became interested in South Korea because of Black Panther, the original movie directed by Ryan Coogler. He shot some of the superhero scenes there.

I left the Korean cook and scrolled down. Aaah! Aaah!  Four more posts about cooking snap beans, exactly like the Korean cook. I guess they’re trending. Copyright, what copyright? Steal from the last thief.  

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.