‘Cooking with Bo’:

Kenneth Cobb seeks to spread conscientious culinary attitude with new book

VICTORVILLE — For local youth worker Kenneth Cobb, creating a cookbook was more than just a long-term project: It was was a form of therapy that enabled him to share a vital message about food, health and life.

Cobb is releasing his first cookbook, “Cooking with Bo: Unique, Delicious, Plant Based Meals,” on Sunday. However, this is not just an average cookbook. Cobb is a vegetarian who loves finding uncommon ways of combining healthy ingredients with plant-based foods to create knockout dishes.

“The book focuses on plant-based meals, snacks, protein bars, smoothies, but here’s the thing in regards to that, it’s not just for vegetarians or vegans,” Cobb said. “These could be side dishes, these could be main dishes for people who don’t eat meat. I don’t want anybody to feel discouraged ...”

Cobb’s love for cooking was kindled when his mother made him and his siblings help her in the kitchen. His history as a vegetarian stretches all the way back to his college days when he bet his roommates that he could cut meat out of his diet entirely.

He lost the bet. However, he quickly rallied his strength for a second attempt that proved more successful.

“I started losing weight, and my skin started getting clearer,” Cobb said. “Each year after that, I gave up a certain meat until I got to the point where I had stopped eating meat.”

Thus began Cobb’s new culinary lifestyle where he slowly learned which foods and ingredients made for the healthiest dishes. This awareness is something that Cobb hopes readers will gain from his book.

“My goals for the book, ultimately, is to get people to think about what they are putting inside of their bodies,” Cobb said. “I’m just hoping that someone will say, ‘Let me read the back of this product and see what are the ingredients and are these ingredients healthy for my body?’”

Cobb initially planned on releasing his book on Mother’s Day to honor his late mother. However, he was still ironing out the kinks in some of his recipes and noticed how much more attention Mother’s Day gets compared to Father’s Day, so he decided to release his book on Sunday.

“So it’s, for me, a dedication, an honoring of the fathers out there that are involved with their families,” Cobb said.

Cobb also revealed how his book helped keep him focused through tough times.

“During the process of this book ... I was going through some rough times, and so the book became therapeutic for me,” Cobb said. “The book was my therapy while I was dealing with the consequences of bad decisions or not planning well ... It really kept me sane and helped me through that dark time.”

Cobb stressed the importance of having a support system during trying times and how that system helped him realize his goals.

“If people don’t get anything else from this book, I want them to understand that whatever you decide to do, whatever goals you’ll have, whatever plans, whatever vision, have a strong support team for those days (when) you just feel like (you) cannot get through this (and you) cannot deal with this anymore,” Cobb said.

“The team is going to hold you accountable. The team is going to tell you the truth, and the team is going to push you to get this product out or to achieve your goal or to achieve your vision.”

“Cooking with Cobb: Unique, Delicious, Plant Based Meals” will be released on lulu.com and cookingwithbo.bigcartel.com for $18.34, and the ebook will be $11.99. In July, it will be released on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Cobb plans on presenting his book at Barnes & Noble in Victorville, as well as other states, in July.