Things you definitely wouldn't find in a typical medieval setting:
- chocolate
- coffee
- tea
- potatoes
- rice
- spaghetti (not even in Italy)
- noodles
- tomatoes
- squash
- baking powder
- gelatin
- baking soda
Middle-Earth is not a typical medieval setting.
Stuff found in Middle-Earth but not in a typical medieval setting:
- waistcoats
- golf
- hobbit holes
- orcs/orc-men/ents/elves/dwarves/hobbits
- paper
- silverware
- clear glass
- potatoes
- coffee
- tea
- limbas
- mithril
- tobacco (?)
- various beasts, including but not limited to giant talking spiders and pond monsters
- etc.
I don't see any reason why there wouldn't be chocolate in Middle-Earth, or for that matter, opium, if there is coffee and tobacco (if you believe pipe weed is tobacco, of course). After eating unsweetened cake, I'd rather like to believe that hobbits had chocolate and an abundance of sugar.
[ February 23, 2003: Message edited by: Bill Ferny ]