"But it is not so — he only said it to avoid the issue, etc." See what I have written in my humble capacity in my small book Birkei Yosef, Orach Chaim, siman 216, and also there in Choshen Mishpat, siman 12, page 51, with God's help — see there at length.

Mishnah: This is the rule: whenever there is a primary item and a secondary one with it, one recites the blessing on the primary item and it exempts the secondary. The Emek Beracha (Principle 5, p. 18, Amsterdam edition) explains that from the principle "whenever there is a primary item" we derive a ruling: there are those who eat bread while drinking so they can drink more easily. If the bread is before him while drinking, he recites the blessing over the beverage according to its kind, and this exempts the bread, which is secondary to the drink. One should not distinguish between food-with-food and drink-with-food, as the Mahari in Terumat HaDeshen (siman 31) wrote — see there. End quote. Furthermore, one can say that this rule comes to teach us that even if the primary food would not cause harm without the secondary food — like salty fish and bread — but one eats the secondary item for pleasure or as a palate cleanser, and not to avoid harm from the primary, even so, as long as it is secondary, it is exempted by the blessing on the primary. The aforementioned rabbi (the Emek Beracha) elaborated and proved this ruling above, and it is clear. See also the Derisha, Orach Chaim siman 212, who criticizes the words of the Emek Beracha. However, the Eliyah Rabbah came to defend the Emek Beracha, and his final ruling agrees with the Emek Beracha's position — see there.