There's more science to food than just nutrition and health. Also, that you can make tasty and healthy food without the technology you mentioned, does not exclude the technology from having a place in a kitchen. Lastly, how do you objectively define "weird obsession". Can you give some examples of countries that do not share this "weird obsession"?
Maybe. But nutrition and health is what should mater the most, if you don't want to end up with a country of overweight people.
> does not exclude the technology from having a place in a kitchen
Certainly. From fridges and washing machines to food processors and electric stoves technology is more than welcome to the kitchen. But is always a cost/value calculation. And if you're not a billionaire patent troll like the author of that book then a lot of the gadgets and techniques he advocates are just not worth it.
> Can you give some examples of countries that do not share this "weird obsession"?
On cooking? Sure! Mexico, India, Colombia, Brazil, most of Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Thailand, ... all of them with fantastic cuisines based mostly on the freshness of their ingredients, with little preparation, straight from the ground/sea to the table.
Now, this doesn’t invalidate your main point ( sophisticated tech is not a hard requirement for good food ) but afaik, some of the most famous dishes in the cuisines you listed do require specific equipment ( tagines, tandoors ) and don’t fall under the ‘ straight from the ground to the table ‘ umbrella.
The tools and dishes you mention are way off-topic when compared to the chemistry lab on that book.