And so I ask you all, is there a rule against simply eating hummus with a spoon? If so, why? If not I may just eat entire vessels (the saller size ones) of hummus as I eat single-serving yogurt units.
Luckily, I’ve thought long and hard about this question, and I know the answer: jouissance. There are many things out there that are really, really, really good (see: mustard & chocolate). But they cannot be eaten alone, becaue that is the difference between pleasure and jouissance: TOO MUCH. By definition, getting what you want is unbearable; it is both frightening, because it makes life seem unnecessary (“let’s just stop right here!”), and disorienting, because it throws our whole economy of desire into disarray (eventually, hummus won’t be so great… but there’s nothing as good as hummus!).
Or, it’s evolutionary: mouthfeel and food texture and flavor variation–a process of distinctions and nuances–is adaptive, because if you eat a bunch of things at once, all the time, you win. (I think that bodes poorly, though, for the early ancestors’ diet…).
p.s. Sorry about that chocolate link, but I feel the mustard one was more obscene.
Absalom, Absalom! 
