Secret recipes have always held a certain allure in American culture. Their existence has helped mythologize companies, from Coca-Cola — which kept its secret formula in a vault at the Trust Company Bank in Atlanta for 86 years before eventually moving it to the the World of Coca‑Cola in 2011 — to KFC’s “11 herbs and spices,” a marketing concept once praised by Wendy’s founder David Thomas because, as he put it, "everybody wants in on a secret.” That’s probably why for every story of a secret recipe catapulting a cook or company to fame, there’s a story about one getting stolen.
For instance, a few weeks ago on this season of “Top Chef,” competitor Danny Garcia was accused of copying a recipe created by his former boss, Blanca head chef Victoria Blamey — a dish she had previously credited in part to him. Eater New York investigated the accusation, which centered on scallop chou farci, a dish served at the now-closed Tribeca restaurant, Mena, where Blamey managed Garcia. After Garcia won an elimination challenge with the dish, which host Kristen Kish declared “luscious,” Blamey took to Instagram to decry the choice.
