We could talk about "other foodies" and say anything we want, but I don't see what your seeing in the provided fodder. I'd also challenge your assumption that these elaborate rituals are valueless for the end product. You're looking for an empirical breakdown, but lots of chefs just don't work that way and don't need to. Or rather, what you call a ritual is what takes the place of empirical knowledge that enables them to make a recipe consistently well. It's not necessarily a purity of the art thing. Most people have an auntie that never measures anything but makes a consistently amazing Meat Pie or some other thing, and the only way she could convey the recipe to you is "watch and do exactly as I do". Ignoring the ritual in that case is like those morons on recipe sites that comment: "I substituted tofu for ham. Terrible recipe. One star".