A final spoiler warning here before I start dropping any Dream of Gluttony details, and... here we go!

The big twist that comes up in Dream of Gluttony is that Food Town is actually meant to be a refuge of sorts for people who are unable to get along with society. This isn't just a town for outcasts though, as you'll realize as you meet certain individuals like Candy and Chili. However, the fact that these outcasts aren't all sympathetic or even really sane actually leads to some of the game's interesting questions on social acceptance.

Of the many characters you encounter, there are a good deal that ended up in Food Town for their own safety. Butter was neglected and abused and the social systems meant to protect children instead only threw her back to abusive homes, so she felt she had to run away. Dumpling similarly was picked on by others for being mute and felt he couldn't get along with society as a result. These two are definitely two of the more sympathetic cases in Food Town, but even Strawberry and Grape are mostly just deeply into plastic surgery to the point their appearances lead to them being judged as freaks. There is an interesting question about body autonomy to be raised by the two, as long as they aren't harming others, why should they be ostracized for body modification? At the same time, there is a character like Tomato whose masochistic tendencies are definitely a risk to himself, but while society would try to protect him from himself, he feels he can only embrace himself in a place like Food Town where the agreed upon rule is everyone is free to be themselves.

When you play the second route of Dream of Gluttony, Sissy's unwillingness to play along leads to panic among otherwise good characters like Butter and Dumpling, and it's easy to assume they might have had this dark side all along, but I don't think this is the case. They know Food Town won't stand up to outside scrutiny, and that's do in part because they are overly accepting and have allowed two directly dangerous individuals into their midst. Candy feels mostly like a weak link in the game's concept, her desire to eat anything she deems sweet seeming like it is meant mostly to set up the striking image of her being the rare cannibal in a game where cannibalism feels like the obvious twist for a place where people named themselves after food. Chili works better for this role though, the straight up serial killer an obvious problem but her psychosis more in line with a real issue someone could have.

By admitting individuals like Candy and Chili, Food Town sticks to its guns on its nature of letting in society's outcasts but also opens it up to the kinds of danger that lead to the extreme actions taken by characters like Dumpling. They have to kill you because not only do they fear being forced back into regular society, but they now have something much darker on their hands simply because their town ethos was exploited by truly problematic individuals. One of the few characters I can't seem to gel with all of this is Cinnamon, mainly because it seems like they explains they're gender fluid or even possibly gender neutral so there is the angle that maybe they were judged for that in modern society but the game's creator also seems to say they didn't intend for Cinnamon's gender to be a big deal.

One interesting angle though is how Sissy embraces or rejects the society, neither path having a good ending and reasonably so for the most part. Both paths seem to involve her embracing a delusion, Sissy being the one to suffer if she plays along as Passion Fruit as admitting Chili into this accepting group leads to Chili exploiting their understanding. On the other path where we learn about Sissy's struggles with adulthood and mature responsibilities though, she almost too heavily embraces the limits of modern society, Sissy having to basically commit to societal norms fully to try and weather her situation and pretty much doomed to return to it either as a cog in the machine or someone who will break trying to fit into its rules. Sissy is a victim herself, not as much as the others for the most part, but Food Town is basically a test of whether she'd be willing to toss aside adult responsibilities and try to ignore the outside world despite the dangers or if she'll fall back into the fold despite her not being the best fit for "civilized" life. The true choice likely lies somewhere in between, finding a way to chase her passions that doesn't involve the rigid work setting of a major restaurant, and you can even see her enjoying cooking for others simply on the first path. That's the tragedy of Dream of Gluttony though, since neither normal or this warped society seem interested in actually learning what she wants, they both just want her to play along in their own ways.

I hope this deeper look better explains why I found its themes so fascinating, and if there are future games with interesting spoiler discussions to be had, maybe I'll do another pastebin giving my deeper thoughts!