As to not sharing recipes---there is the story of a woman who was frequently asked for her potato salad recipe. No, over her dead body. So, when she died, the family put the recipe on her tombstone!
In my own experience, I had asked for a recipe for a wonderful orange peel bread. No, the woman wouldn't share it because it was a family recipe. Imagine her chagrin when I took the bread to a church gathering--I found the recipe in one of those cookbooks put together by women of an organization/community! If it wasn't her family recipe, it sure tasted similar.