It would have been packaged in a way that should have been obvious to anyone "This is a gift of fine food", so I find it hard to believe he would have actually

It would have been packaged in a way that should have been obvious to anyone "This is a gift of fine food", so I find it hard to believe he would have actually perceived it as some kind of threat, except in a kind of tongue in cheek way. But sometimes it's important to lie a little bit to make a story better.