Taste and see

To understand Tolkiens' obsession with the engelkuchen, we first have to realize that his mother converted to the Eucharistic, Papal faith in a land where, like the US, that is potentially a very bad political and ecocomic move. You might even get executed, if you're Becket.
The young Tolkien must have often wondered, why would she do this, gypping him out of mansions and bling? Especially when the father died, leaving the family even worse off. was it worth it to renouce that wealth and aristocracy for a piece of bread? The bread must be awfully grand and sweet and there must be a passport in it to a land far greater than England could ever be.

In Wooten, it seems Tolkien/Smith discoveres the star is not necessarily such a passport, and becomes rather sniffly.