whoa!! I was absent for some time and come back to quite a discussion!
I guess it depends on a person, which food is preferred, but in this particular application, if I had to use nuts, chips, jerky etc, it would have slowed me down significantly (stopping down to chew, time and energy it takes for the nutrients to get processed by the body), whereas gels get absorbed by the body almost instantly without any byproducts formed in the process, and there's no need to stop and catch breath when flying down the trail. All of the fats and protein I ate at longer rest stops before sleeping. This way it's easier for the body to process those when at rest, when there's bigger volume of blood available for the stomach's work. At least this is my understanding of it.