Curate, connect, and discover
Alright I know I've already done a few but another Dazai hc
WARNING: This post talks about depression. I am in no way an expert or professional, and everything is based off of my own experience and research. If you relate to this, please seek professional help.
Ok so the headcanon in short is that Dazais depression caused him to 'lose' his sense of taste.
Quick explanation before moving on BUT a more accurate way to say it is that I don't think he can really perceive taste. It's kind of complicated and hard to explain but it's basically like when you eat something, you can't really tell someone what the food tastes like despite knowing that it does have a taste. It's something, but you don't know what, and no matter how familiar you are with food, you can't identify it. Sometimes you can, but only when it's super strong, and when the depression is unaddressed, it can worsen into not even getting strong flavors over time. It's important to note that you can remember what things tasted like. So, you could eat an apple before you lost your taste perception, then eat it again afterwards and remember that the apple tasted or is supposed to taste sweet. You can't tell that that apple specifically is sweet, but you can tell that the apple is supposed to be sweet in the form a phantom sensation or even just a though of 'Oh this is supposed to be sweet' way.
Going back to Dazai specifically, I think that, despite him getting better in the ADA, this perception worsened over time. Mainly because dude never actually deals with his depression. I can't really say when I think it would have started, but I'm leaning towards not long after or before he joined the PM. Mainly because he could still taste Odas spicy curry and alcohol. With that in mind, he can probably lie easily when asked to try or eat something, because he can remember what certain foods tasted like, and he's smart enough to give a general guess if he never tasted that dish but can tell some of the ingredients. Also because of this, I imagine that he likes canned crab because it has a nice texture to him. He can't taste, so whether or not he likes a food is more based on how it feels in his mouth. The canned crab is probably cheap and has a proper texture, making it still at least a little enjoyable for him to eat since he still can have some sensation in his mouth. At the same time, he likes whiskey or just alcohol in general because he can remember what it tastes like from back in the pm where they were strong enough for him to taste. Also I imagine that makes Dazai kind of picky on his food? Like if it has a weird or no texture, he won't like it. Same thing if it has a funny or bad scent.