Democratic Congressional candidate Norman Solomon, of Inverness Park, has joined the “Food Stamp Challenge,” in which participants are tasked with living on the average amount—$4.50 a day and $31.50 a week—of benefits for food stamp recipients, to raise awareness about hunger and to protest Republican Congress members’ proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program and CalFresh. “There’s an out of sight, out of mind problem for politicians and the media,” said Solomon. “If we’re not in touch with the human reality, then they become abstractions. It’s easy for bad policies to continue.” After finding the deals on apples, bell peppers and avocados at Lucky’s in Petaluma a bit out of his price range on Monday, he bought most of his food supplies at Grocery Outlet. That evening, he dined on yams, bread, apples and a bell pepper. “That stuff on this sort of budget scale is really pricey,” he said. “You eat a couple of apples and you’ve gone through a substantial part of your budget. I need to remember to pick up some oatmeal. Because that’s the way to go.” On his campaign stops this week, he plans on packing rice and beans.