The only thing that gives me pause is the fact meol was an optional dish. During the encounter at Eulmore, there were a lot of people who weren't affected at all, both inside and outside the city. If it was an attempt to quell uprisings like the ones Vauthry's father apparently had, it would have missed a lot of potential rebels.

After the buildup of how frighteningly easy it was to be turned, the "time release tempering" by sin eater buns--for twenty years of Vauthry's rule--just struck me as really odd. No one showed signs like the Afflicted in Ahm Araeng when we visited Eulmore, but Ahm Araeng and Eulmore both were exposed to Sin Eaters. Would a citizen with a sweet tooth turn inside the city? Wouldn't people have eventually sickened like the Afflicted? It seems that would be a bad look for the man who promised safety from the sin eaters.

That said, I don't really count Alphinaud stating the Eulmorans were all of their own free will up until that point as concrete proof. How on earth could he know that, lmao.

But the Eulmore arc wasn't even a thing until the last minute, so deadlines may have been partly to blame for what I see as pretty glaring plotholes.