That is really, really interesting. Thanks a lot. Now I understand your wording that puzzled me when I saw your first reply, about conflating how this author and other authors deal with it.

I think I would still maintain that people build a lot on that one swiss roll. As I said, it puzzles me why there is all the chocolate and sweet stuff in fanfic. Why not chips, or sandwiches, or meals out in restaurants? So I take it from the essay that she's deliberately making a point by using something associated with indulgence and sensuality. That aspect would probably work better for me if I actually liked chocolate that much myself! - but I do know that most people do.

But even if she is deliberately reacting against a tendency she doesn't like, I'm afraid from outside, not knowing this, it just seemed a particularly clear example of a tendency I don't like!

So the thing that strikes me there is - and I fully expect that this too has been debated to death over the years of fandom, and I'd be astonished if it hadn't - how much knowledge of the author affects how you read a story. Again, something for another day, I imagine.