This is a wild take. Genuinely worried about how you are viewing the folks you interact with.
I spent a fair amount of time working in the food industry. It is way easier to just say what you legitimately would recommend rather then come up with a bizzare lie.
I had a great teacher that did a wonderful job of contextualising it so loved it when I first was told the story.
It’s worth taking a dip into the history books to get a better sense of art culture at the time. It doesn’t ring of genius without it but when you realise just how audacious and tangential to the norm it was chefs kiss. Beautiful.