[chef] including recipes vs normal ruby require/include

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Chef folks,

I have a question about code reuse in Chef.

I know it’s not unusual for a recipe to include another recipe using the
“include recipe” construct.  But  why is this better than using the normal
Ruby mechanisms for code reuse?  Couldn’t I organize my reusable bits of Chef
code into ordinary Ruby modules, and then use the ordinary Ruby require and
include tools to pull in the reusable bits as needed?  My prejudice is to 
stick
to the normal Ruby way unless there's a compelling reason not to.

Jeff