What is the origin of the saying 'what a dish'?

A similar saying is "he's a tall drink of water." I think these sayings act as metaphors comparing an attractive person with something desirable to consume. It would be a simile if you said something like that woman is as attractive as a delicious dish of spaghetti.

etymology of what a dish O'Conner & Kellerman

Both “dish” and “toothsome,” terms for good things to eat, have been applied to sexy people.

From ~ 700 AD (tooth) to the Middle Ages until well into the 19th century, the expression “to (or for) one’s tooth” meant to one’s taste or liking, according to the Oxford English Dictionary

“Toothsome” is used to describe an attractive woman. What is the origin of this usage? Is there some connection to calling someone “a real dish”?

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Shakespeare may have been the first to use “dish” in this figurative way, in reference to sexy Cleopatra: “He will to his Egyptian dish againe.” (From Antony and Cleopatry, 1606.)

But this was probably just a passing metaphorical use. It wasn’t until the 1920s that “dish” came to be used this way in general English.

The earliest modern example in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang is from Variety, that fountainhead of American slang: “She ought to be a swell-looking’ dish in tights” (Nov. 25, 1921).