Maura Judkis, a Modern Day Hungerkunstler.

Maura Judkis, of the Washington Post

When Ms. Judkis graduated from the University of Southern California in 2011 the world was not just her oyster but her Oysters Rockefeller. Working for the Washington Post as a chronicler of food, culture, and belle arti, her motto was: "Eat, drink, and be merry -- for tomorrow we get to do it all over again!" 

She collected awards for her journalism the way other people collect bottle caps -- effortlessly and constantly. 

But then, in a sudden attempt to better her artistic sensibilities, she began studying the work of Kafka -- and that was her undoing.

She started with his short story "A Hunger Artist." In it, a nameless protagonist explains the art and philosophy behind prolonged fasting. His fasting technique is so well received that he is locked up in a cage and put on display. At first he is treated as a celebrity, but gradually over the years the public loses interest in his long fasts and one day his emaciated body is callously removed from public view and just before he dies he confesses that the reason he went hungry voluntarily was that he could never find any food that he really liked. 

This strange tale struck Ms. Judkis like a thunderbolt, because it made her realize that she, too, had never found any kind of comestible that she really enjoyed. Tokay wine tasted like thin vinegar to her. A crusty baguette, direct from the oven, seemed but a puffed up Saltine cracker. Kyoto beef was indistinguishable from a Slim Jim. And a Grand Marnier souffle was as insubstantial and unfulfilling as a strand of gossamer. 

Her whole existence, her vibrant joie de vivre, was but a farce and a sham. Retiring to her country estate in Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, Ms. Judkis reexamined her priorities and dietary excesses. She read extensively from the Bible, the Quran, and the Bhagavad Gita. And at last, after several months of inner turmoil and spiritual kerfuffle, she emerged with a new sense of purpose and an artistic maturity that startled her colleagues and amazed her readers. No longer the giddy sybarite, she now writes with a philosophical calm and penetrating insight about deep subjects like eating a burrito from the middle and the vagaries of candy corn that leaves the critics breathless.   

Her one remaining vice is a fondness for White Castle hamburgers washed down with a Big Red creme soda. She donates her entire salary to the Zez Comfrey Music Preservation Society. 

After reading this profile, Maura Judkis emailed me her response, thus:  I love this, Tim! You nailed it. Thank you for the great start to my weekend :)

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