When Robert Pincus was a professor of cloud physics at the University of Wisconsin, he reacted to the stress of his day job in a perfectly normal way: by adding on a night job cooking for Odessa Piper at L’Etoile, where he received advanced training in cooking from the farmers market. He now lives in New York with his wife Tara Q. Thomas and their baby daughter (code name “Squishy”). He spends just a little too much time at the Union Square Greenmarket.
Robert Pincus

Photograph by Kevin Demaria
Robert Pincus on gourmet.com
food + cooking
How to Say No
We’ve encouraged our daughter to eat anything that pleases her. We never thought about how to set limits.
09.30.09
- Keywords
- cooking,
- kids,
- diet/nutrition,
- robert pincus
food + cooking
Mollusks for Life
Germany’s nice and all, but there’s no place like home for greenmarkets,
sweet corn, and sea scallops.
09.16.09
- Keywords
- seafood,
- scallops,
- cooking,
- technique,
- robert pincus
food + cooking
All Tomorrow’s Parties
Before we leave Germany, there are parties and picnics to help make saying goodbye a little easier.
09.02.09
- Keywords
- travel,
- germany,
- cupcakes,
- culinary culture,
- robert pincus
food + cooking
Feeding Community
Living and working in a foreign country, you begin to understand the rituals that create community. One of them (no surprise) is lunch.
08.19.09
- Keywords
- germany,
- culinary culture,
- robert pincus
wine + spirits + beer
Drinking in a Foreign Language
On German wine shops, first-time awkwardness, and falling in love.
08.17.09
- Keywords
- culinary culture,
- wine,
- germany,
- tara q. thomas
food + cooking
Flavor Bank
What to do when the flavor of summer is just too good to let go.
08.05.09
- Keywords
- beverages,
- hamburg,
- germany,
- herbs,
- robert pincus
food + cooking
Suffering Cephalopods, Batman
Squid is not just for calamari. In fact, if you get it fresh, it’s amazingly versatile, not to mention delicious.
07.22.09
- Keywords
- cooking,
- seafood,
- notes from germany,
- robert pincus
travel + culture
Lights in the Sky
A gentle reminder of Thailand in the skies of northern Germany.
07.08.09
- Keywords
- travel,
- germany,
- thailand,
- robert pincus
travel + culture
You Are Here
Just being on another part of the earth’s surface can, it turns out, reinvigorate your sense of wonder.
06.24.09
- Keywords
- travel,
- germany,
- robert pincus
food + cooking
Smoked Fish, Bacon of the Sea
Why this egg-less, bacon-less meal is just like pasta carbonara.
06.17.09
- Keywords
- fish,
- pasta,
- cooking + technique,
- germany,
- robert pincus