On the normal food blogger pages it is fluff to make room for ads or to get people to misclick on the ads while trying to get to (or back to; the scroll changes feel intentional too) the actual recipe bit. Super effective, especially with people using mobile and trying to scroll with one finger while cooking.

A ton of these sites were bought up and they all look the same now and run the multiple floating ads, especially a wide banner at the -bottom- which is a perfect misclick monetizer.

I thought it's because there's no copyright possible on recipes, but there is on the fluff writing...

I don't know if it's to prevent mass theft of content (oh no, the thieves would have to go through the text and cut off the stories. Although nowadays the biggest IP thieves have built systems to automate this..)

The purpose of the website is to sell ad space. The recipe brings you to the site. The story keeps you there longer and makes more space for more ads.

Abstemiousness, I think, is not an option when you're trying to sell.