Hobbits, Elves and Hershey Bars

[Lalaith]

dish, of course, was covered by a blanket of spices

Sorry to drag things up in a spirit of pedantry, but I have to quibble with this claim in an otherwise most learned and informative post. According to some wise food historians I recently had the honour of hobnobbing with, the idea that mediaeval food was heavily spiced is actually erroneous. Spices were extremely expensive and thus used with delicacy and caution.

And yes, if M-E had pipeweed and taters, I see no issue with chocolate. They certainly had stuff to sweeten it with - remember that honeycomb at Tom Bombadil's, and the honeycakes of the Beornings...