Taylor’s Market—that charming neighborhood landmark on Freeport Boulevard between Land Park and Curtis Park—has been offering the community its essential services for almost 60 years.
In the window, a red neon sign from another era touts “Old Fashion Butcher Shop.” Beside the door, a portable handwashing station stands with a paper sign reminding patrons to wear a face mask.
Even though this year’s annual Farm-to-Fork Festival has been canceled due to COVID-19, the harvest events, which include the Farm-to-Fork Street Festival on Capitol Mall, Legends of Wine and Tower Bridge Dinner, are set to return next September.
Since 2013, the Farm-to-Fork Street Festival has developed into a popular two-day event highlighting Sacramento’s agricultural legacy and attracting more than 155,000 residents and visitors. The free open-air jamboree features musical artists, local food vendors, regional wines, craft beer, cooking demonstrations and more.
With each month it becomes more difficult to see even a few weeks into the future when it comes to the restaurant scene. We’ve lost beloved favorites. Local treasures have reopened only to shut down again within weeks. Some landlords have been graciously flexible with rental and lease terms. Others have not.
It’s with confidence, though, that I say the following local institutions will still be plying their wares well after this column comes out. The humble bakery—set up for takeaway business and designed for in-home consumption—is an integral part of the community.
Two children gently plant strawberry seeds in a bed of soft earth while their mother waters the persimmon tree nearby. It is therapeutic, restorative, peaceful. During these uncertain times, many families have turned to their own backyards to create a haven of fruits and veggies while gaining healthy life lessons and skills.
In the backyard of their Arden-Arcade home, Shani Drake and her two children, 5-year-old Jenevieve and 12-year-old Desean, have created a vibrant plot of earth teeming with Mexicola avocados, fava beans, strawberries, elderberries, rosemary, sorrel and purple potatoes.
As I write this, Sacramento County has just reordered all indoor dining to shutter. The brief window of opportunity to visit a restaurant has closed after restaurant owners were put in a literally impossible situation of making diners feel safe, and still have their restaurants be the convivial gathering places they were pre-COVID. Too many of us expected bar and restaurant owners to enforce rules they were just coming to terms with and fully understanding.
But, thankfully, for those of us who cannot cook water without burning it, or those of us who cook competently but enjoy a restaurant meal now and again, or even those that cherish the opportunity to cook for our loved ones and yet equally admire the skill and talent that go into a truly professionally prepared dinner, we still have takeout.
As the community turns to local food sources instead of the global chain, is it possible Sacramento could dig even deeper into its roots as the farm-to-fork capital?
Small farms across the region that have been impacted by the pandemic are seeing some opportunities. To help support America’s farmers and maintain the integrity of our nation’s food supply chain, the U.S. Department of Agriculture implemented the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program. Announced in mid-April, this $19 billion immediate relief program provides critical assistance to farmers.
