Notes Wikipedia: “Ancient Greece Athenaeus, writing in the third century CE, mentions that in 500 BC, in the Greek city of Sybaris (located in what is now southern Italy), there were annual culinary competitions. The victor was given the exclusive right to prepare his dish for one year.”
It is no wonder they had such a law. It is obvious that without it no one would have an incentive to come up with new recipes. This is why, in the modern world, in which there are no copyrights or patents on food dishes, we have no innovation in food at all. Unfortunately, we are stuck repeating the glories of 2500 year old Greek cuisine, which flourished for a brief time under the benevolent guidance of the government.
Update: see also Michael Witty, “Athenaeus describes the most ancient intellectual property” (2018)
From Juani from Argentina:
The passage occurs in Deipnosophistae Book XII, section 521c–e. Athenaeus there cites the historian Phylarchus (a 3rd-century BC writer) as his authority. The exact wording is :
“And if any caterer or cook invented any peculiar and excellent dish, no other artist was allowed to make this for a year; but he alone who invented it was entitled to all the profit to be derived from the manufacture of it for that time; in order that others might be induced to labour at excelling in such pursuits.”
The anecdote is brief, but it is indeed preserved by Athenaeus and has been repeatedly picked up in modern discussions of intellectual property and proto-patent law. You will not easily find it on Perseus, since that database is incomplete and sometimes lacks the full text of later books of Athenaeus, but if you consult the Loeb Classical Library edition (Athenaeus: The Learned Banqueters, vols. 7–8, translated by S. Douglas Olson), you will find it clearly printed and translated at Book XII, 521c. That is the passage your secondary sources are alluding to.
