There's no way I'm going to read this entire thread, but I have to agree with OP. I am seeing a lot of recycling, and I don't even have all the packs! And although I really love the new recipes and collections, I also agree that a pack should have new content that appeals to all different kinds of players.
In fact, when I first got Jungle Adventure, I was very disappointed with how similar it seemed to Outdoor Retreat. Although there was a new neighborhood/world, it behaved in much the same way as Granite Falls. This was alleviated somewhat upon discovering that the temples did have puzzles to solve, but it's still far, far inferior to World Adventures from TS3 (my all-time favorite expansion pack). There was only one new skill and recipe (I think?) per vacation destination, but the worlds and ruins and errands you could go on were beautiful and fun. I remember there was one location in Champs les Sims where you had to turn on a stereo in order to advance. Even though there were only a few different kinds of traps, all the different locations, and many of the different overall puzzles, were unique. If I were to get TS3 today, I could easily spend weeks, even months, exploring everything that EP had to offer.
City Living is definitely my favorite EP, but still, most EPs from TS3 would blow it out of the water.
In many ways, I love TS4 more than TS3. I love the way aspirations are composed of a bunch of smaller goals, I think the Sims look more natural and less uncanny valley, we can have female Sims that can impregnate and male Sims that can get pregnant without getting abducted, and toddlers are more independent (and adorable) than ever.
But if there's one thing TS3 did better, it was unique expansion packs.
That said, I believe food stalls are in this game so that you don't have to get City Living in order to have them (although maybe food stalls should have been in the base game instead?). Lots of different parts of the world have that kind of thing.
ETA: And recycled bugs, of course, are unacceptable.
