By Mia Finley
“Insanity,” says Robert “Bo” Brice. “Insanity was our impetus.”
Combining local farming, Central American cuisine and two retired friends, Brice and Rebecca Snyder debuted the SoBo Mobile food truck last Thursday at neighboring Old Bust Head Brewing Company.
His Mexican heritage and late mother’s recipes contributed to the truck’s theme. “It only took me 20 years as a defense contractor to figure it out first,” he jokes. Add Snyder’s desire to spread sustainable farming practices to the mix and SoBo Mobile came to be.
“She’s an ol’ hippie,” Brice says about Snyder. “Our motto, farm to face, is the ultimate expression of organic, sustainable and free-range everything.” Her 60-acre farm in Warrenton, JuncoHill Farm, now raises turkey, chickens and pigs to support the food truck.
“I have a Ph.D. in anthropology. I’m from Canada. I have no real right in running a food truck,” Snyder says. “But I really feel this strong calling to reconnect people to where their food comes from. I want kids to feel powerful about the food choices they’re making.”
The colorful sugar skull logo is Brice’s, a “tip of the sombrero to my mother and her culture,” he says. As for the name, SoBo describes south-of-the-border cooking as well as Brice’s nickname, Bo.
The menu includes tacos, burritos, nachos, empanadas and handmade cinnamon sugar churros. A popular dish so far is the pork tacos: American Guinea hog meat, highly marbled and slow-cooked overnight, served on a soft corn tortilla with adobo seasoning, red chilies and cabbage slaw.
“We are retired, but it doesn’t feel like it. I’m working harder now than I ever did in my 20s,” Snyder, 49, says. Brice is 50. “But I think it’s really rewarding. It shows my kids that I put my money where my mouth is in regards to sustainable food.” / Find the truck roaming Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford and Fairfax counties; SoBo Mobile
