Final answer:
Anita Roy's 'Cooking time' may not explicitly discuss the price of following the crowd, but insights from Samin Nosrat's 'Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat' suggest there is a price to conforming in cooking. Nosrat emphasizes personal, intuitive, and culturally-rich cooking over widespread popular trends, implying that creativity and individuality have significant value.
Step-by-step explanation:
“Cooking time” by Anita Roy does not necessarily talk directly about the price of following the crowd, but Samin Nosrat's writings and show presented in Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat talk to a broader picture which could help us infer a connection to that theme.
Nosrat emphasizes that cooking is not just about food, but about people, culture, and ultimately it becomes a tool for compassion and understanding. She poses questions like, “Can food make a difference?”, highlighting the importance of food beyond just sustenance or trends. These ideas suggest that blindly following popular trends in cooking might lead to missing out on the deeper enriching experience that understanding and appreciating diverse culinary practices can offer.
Further, Nosrat's principle that good food around the world is more similar than different points to the idea that, while there is a place for standardization, there is also a value in individuality and creativity in the kitchen. This contrasts with simply following popular ingredients or techniques just because they are widely accepted or trendy. The notion that “anyone can cook anything and make it delicious” by trusting their senses and intuition in the kitchen, rather than conforming to widespread standards, shows Nosrat argues for a cooking approach that stands out instead of one that blends in.
Moreover, her arguments that cooking can create empathy and common ground imply that cooking unique and culturally rich foods could be more valuable than catering to mass tastes. Thus, the “price” of following the crowd might be the loss of these depth-filled experiences and the stagnation of culinary creativity. Her work suggests a richness in taking the path less traveled in the kitchen rather than simply adhering to the status quo.