Recipe websites are the worst of web design. To make things even worse they are mostly used on mobile where bloat/advertisements/janky loading is even more of a pain.
I could not care less what pivotal moment in your childhood led you to like chocolate cake. I just want to make one.
Everyone I know balks at this, yet it exists. Can some explain why? Where is this tradition coming from? Does this drive page views? I know nothing about the cooking subculture. Is it some sort of normies vs "really into this" thing (and please excuse the phrasing, I could not come up with something better). Because that would mean the page is just not targeted at me. But then again that argument will make sense if the monetization was not through advertisement and view volume.
I didn't realize how curious I was about this.
Edit: just had a thought. Can it be something to do with SEO? Does google like bigger articles with lots of personal text? If this is the reason it would blow my mind. Without knowing it google algo would have made the internet a shittier place, this is very amusing to me.
From the US Copyright Office:
"Mere listings of ingredients as in recipes, formulas, compounds, or prescriptions are not subject to copyright protection. However, when a recipe or formula is accompanied by substantial literary expression in the form of an explanation or directions, or when there is a combination of recipes, as in a cookbook, there may be a basis for copyright protection.”
i find all my recipes on youtube now.
I have the opposite problem trying to get more text on our recipe pages - I am sure some designers would design a recipe e page with no text if we let them.