I wonder if the nature of the product creates incentives for fussy recipes with a lot of ingredients

You make a good point, and I wonder whether this could be mitigated by balancing some simple recipes (which lets the cook deliver with minimum effort - including the work of shopping/planning) with some deliberately complex recipes (pushing the cook to learn, experiment with new techniques, and push their comfort-zone).

Personally, that approach would resound well for me, but I'm conscious that I might not be the ideal viable demographic.