Can recipes be patented?

The surprising answer to this is: yes, you can actually patent food. However, the food is subject to the same restrictions as other inventions when it comes to patents. The most obvious hurdles to getting a patent on food is making it different from other kinds of foods, and being able to show that it isn’t an obvious combination of food.

To show that the food isn’t an obvious recipe, one has to show that they are foods the normal person wouldn’t think of putting together. This is especially true of a soup or other common food that we think of often. To show that it is different, one has to be very specific in the description. A molecular level description is often a good way to do this if you’re unsure a different way will make the cut.