Indeed, travel writing is an entire genre. But I also get the gp's point, that especially with cooking it's easy to overcomplicate things while ignoring how the inventors actually worked.

My point is that it is silly to complain about people being nerdy about a specific topic, just because there are others with more expertise. Especially in cooking, the concept of "inventors" and "authorities" for such basic things as chilli oil, is a strange one.

For me personally, getting deep into a specific food item like this is bascally like traveling. I will first do my own experimentation, not because I think I will discover something new, but because I will more deeply understand why things are done the way they are when I (later) read "proper" sources and consult with others. At that initial stage, I am bound to overcomplicate things, but it's the good kind of overcomplication.

It is like traveling to a new place, and walking around randomly before opening a map. Of course I "overcomplicated" my path from A to B, but I've seen so many interesting (but not necessarily important) things on my way.