In his introductory note Yann Martel says, "This book was born as I was hungry." What sort of emotional nourishment might life of Pi have given to it's author?

In the line "This book was born as I was hungry.", it meant that he was hungry for enlightenment and inspiration. As a writer, he was definitely stuck with bad reviews on his books before, and he was looking for a new way to make his stories shine. It was in India, that he was inspired to write "Life of Pi" that played with a lot of religious statements that put his path to enlightenment complete.