AITA for telling my son he owes the family money after selling my mama's gumbo recipe to a restaurant?

okay y'all i need the real talk on this one. my son Marcus (28M) found my mama Odile's handwritten gumbo recipe in a box after she passed three years ago. that recipe is the one we serve every single Sunday, it's basically the family name at this point!! turns out last month a restaurant downtown offered him $3,000 to "consult" and use her recipe as their new special, and he said yes without asking ME, without asking his aunties, nothing. i only found out because my sister Renee (52F) saw the menu and sent it to the group chat screaming. when i confronted him he said it was HIS to share since mama gave him the box, not me, and that money is money and he's got rent due. i told him that recipe fed this whole family for 40 years and he just handed it to strangers for cash without even a heads up, and now i can't even make it the same way without people saying it's "the restaurant version." i asked him to at least split the money with the family since it's mama's legacy, he said absolutely not, it's his hustle. now half the family thinks i'm being petty over a recipe and the other half thinks he flat out stole from all of us. Andre thinks i should let it go. Renee isn't speaking to him. Sunday dinner this week was DEAD silent y'all.

#aita#family

asked by @moniqued_nola · Aug 20, 2026 · 263 votes · 3 comments