Dependent-samples t-test: elementary question

I have a very basic question - hopefully someone can help me with it because I was not able to find the answer online.

We have a study where we measured food craving for different types of food. This was measured with a single question for each food type on a 7 point Likert scale. If we now want to compare whether our participants have a stronger craving for sweet compared to salty foods - can we use the dependent-samples t-test (providing all assumptions hold)?

We have a slight disagreement due to the fact that the dependent t-test compares means between two related groups on the same, continuous dependent variable.

This all makes sense if you would, for example, compare cravings for sweet food before and after an intervention. But how about in our case - where we have the same participants measured on both variables with the same format, but it's not "the same variable"?

In a sense, I think we could conceptualize it as measuring "food craving" in two different "conditions" - sweet and salty (although I do realize it's not exactly the same thing). And then...it would make sense to compare the means with this test.

Am I really off track with my thinking? Or is it ok to conduct this test in our case?