With full participation in California’s food stamp program, the state’s poor would receive an additional $1.8 billion in federal funds each year. Pending legislation would require the state to close in on that goal. Some say it’s too ambitious for a state where 58 counties manage an arduous application in a variety of ways.

Brad Squires and Matt Brunner wondered what would happen to the agricultural land that housed Tom Tomich Orchards — the sole remaining commercial fruit operation in Orangevale — when the business shuttered in 2017. Would that really be the end of an era?

Sacramento has struggled with its branding for more than a century. Recently, the farm-to-fork movement has raised awareness of the local food scene, but as the region also tries to highlight its growth in business, tech, art and culture, a new brand is in the pipeline.

Customers who visit select craft breweries in the Sacramento region with “guest taps” — as in, beers from another brewery — will be offered two limited treats beginning this week as part of a new beer import program.

Amid the clatter of machinery and the beeping of forklifts, workers wearing white hair nets tend their stations around the assembly line in the warehouse-like production kitchen of Mad Will’s Food Company on the outskirts of Auburn.

A “sammich” from the Nash & Proper food truck is not merely a sandwich; it’s a feat of engineering. There’s intent behind every stratum of the structure, from the coarse-cut slaw that props up the top bun to the pickles laid carefully on the bottom so they hit your tongue first.

For Akshay Prabhu, nothing ties a meal together like community. His Davis-based startup, Foodnome, reflects that philosophy, turning regular homes into restaurants the way Uber turned regular cars into taxis.

After appearing on the cover of Comstock’s magazine in 2014, Cindy Garcia has gone on to compete in several butchery competitions and will soon appear on a nationally-broadcast television program.

Breweries say the clubs are a good way to compete in the expanding marketplace because they encourage repeat customers. Customers have the option to pay a flat rate for a stainless steel canteen and a predetermined number of refills.

It’s around 1992, and a long-haired dude in his early 20s is sitting with his friend at Taco Loco, a popular Mexican eatery on J Street in Sacramento. They’re eyeballing the customers, waiting to pounce.