Is recreating the same dish as a famous chef culinary plagiarism or an homage? Or is it a case of a chef too lazy to come up with his own dishes for his restaurant?

I recently asked myself these questions when after having a foie gras dish at a new opening in Hong Kong. It was per chance as a follower of Ferran Adria on Facebook that I saw a picture of a dish that he had created that is exactly the same dish being served by the restaurant in Hong Kong. The same name, the same ingredients, the same plating, and I imagine the same taste. The chef in question once worked for Adria so this is no accident.

Of course chefs recreate each other’s dishes all the time. There is no copyright on dishes and what a boring culinary world it would be if there was.

Yet at the same time when a chef endeavors to become known for his food, which this chef hopes to, I would have thought that everything he served was a product of his imagination and creativity.

What do you think?