The state of inability to eat or drink due to an altered perception of
taste. Though usually involuntary, ghouling can also be practiced as a form of fasting to lose weight, and can be symptomatic of eating disorders such as
anorexia.
The term is in reference to ghouls, the titular characters of “Tokyo Ghoul”, the
2011 Shueisha manga by Sui Ishida and 2014
anime of the same
name. Ken Kaneki, the story’s main character and intermittent narrator, becomes a ghoul after receiving organs from another ghoul in a transplant following a violent encounter with them. Due to this, Kaneki can no longer tolerate the taste of foods he regularly ate, as his ghoul state perceives human flesh as more palatable than civilian food.
You okay,
bud?
Huh? Yeah, why?
Well because you made all that food, I thought you said you were starving…
Yeah, I thought I was, but something just seems off about it. Maybe I’
m “Ghouling” again.