Why Stuff?

Mark Bittman writes today about a chicken stuffing. His contention - that most stuffings are for appearance's sake rather than for taste. I think he's basically right, and certainly I have no soft spot for turkey stuffing at thanksgiving. But there are exceptions, which I posted as a comment on his blog. Hopefully, I'll have started a conversation:

It’s an interesting argument, and I think you’re usually right. I guess I can think of a couple of reasons besides aesthetics, though, to stuff things with other things. (a) The stuffing would taste good alongside, but the stuffing melts, or otherwise renders itself difficult (b) Convenience - packages of things are sometimes easier to manipulate than one thing flopped onto another thing (c) surprise or disguise - need to convince someone to eat beef cheeks? Want to surprise your guest with a little pop of raisin in a grape leaf, or cheese in a chicken? The answer is stuffing.