That's an interesting comparison - I've never thought of cultural appropriation along the lines of FOSS licenses before (I guess because the rules for borrowing from other cultures are unwritten). I wonder what compliance should look like in this case - is it enough for the borrower to treat the borrowed dish with care and make an earnest attempt to create something that respects the culture of origin (E.g., don't make steak tikka masala)? Should there be a note on the menu "this dish is inspired by the traditional food X, from culture Y"?

Just like for books, music, software, movies:

- if it's an exact copy, give attribution

- if it's inspired-by but different, say it

- if it's a new thing, don't give false attribution (e.g. with a misleading name)

- if the origin is forgotten or unclear, don't claim ownership

So what should we call spaghetti with a marinara? Chinese noodles with crushed American nightshades?

I think it'd be easy to take goodpoint's brief post to the point of absurdity, but I'm trying to give it a more productive reading.

The Culinary Cultural Appropriation Police are not going to come after anyone for not explaining spaghetti or tacos to an American audience. Everyone knows what those are even if they don't know every bit of the history of those items.

But if you're going to introduce a lesser-known dish, it'd be better to provide some context. When a white chef puts his twist on Ghanaian groundnut soup on the menu, that's ok - but don't just call it "Tim's Tasty Nut Soup" without referring to what it was inspired by. Give credit to the culture that invented the thing (and no, I don't think your menu needs to dive into the fact that it contains tomatoes which aren't native to Ghana, etc).

Spot on.

Also don't slap the name of a food that people heard about on something very different.