Slow Food Sonoma County North

SLOW FARM TOUR: Farm to Fight Hunger
2021-08-13 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Farm to Fight Hunger, 12340 Los Amigos Road, Healdsburg
Please join us for a tour of Farm to Fight Hunger, a recent Snail of Approval awardee, in Healdsburg!

Farm to Fight Hunger is a non-profit organization that grows, harvests and delivers fresh nutritious produce, free of charge, to those in Sonoma County in need of healthy food. Last year they donated 10,000 pounds of produce to community organizations. Eggs laid by happy pastured hens are also donated; last year they gave 20,000 eggs to the Redwood Empire Food Bank. The farm donates 100% of what they grow.
The cost for the tour is $10 per person. Please pay at the door with cash or by check (checks to SF Sonoma County North).
Space is limited, so please register at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.
There is limited parking space so please plan to carpool.

Back to School Gardens Fundraiser
2021-07-29 17:00 - 17:30 | Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria, 21021 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville, CA, 95441, United States
Support Our School Gardens Project and A Snail of Approval Restaurant with a To-Go Dinner
Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria is one of our Snail of Approval restaurants. Diavola is collaborating with Sonoma County North to raise funds for our chapter’s School Gardens Project. Every dinner you order through Slow Food from Diavola for July 29 will raise money for the project. We invite you to support our Snail and our school gardens at the same time!
July 29, 2021
Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria
21021 Geyserville Avenue, Geyserville
(For locations in Healdsburg and Windsor, free delivery is available.)
If you choose not to order dinner on July 29, you may buy a gift certificate worth $25 at Diavola plus your donation for school gardens. We will mail the certificate to you.
Although the pick-up date is July 29, we must place the orders with Diavola by July 15. Please sign up now to participate in this event! Choose a pickup time: 5 pm or 5:30 pm
MENU
Beginning
Dry Creek Peach Mostarda Salad
Entrees
Roasted Pork Loin Chop with a medley of greens (chard, kale, escarole) and white beans with salsa verde
OR
BBQ Cauliflower Steak with Mushroom Ragu (roasted cauliflower, mushrooms, broccoli, fennel) with a medley of greens (chard, kale, escarole) and white beans with salsa verde
$45 per person which includes a donation to the School Gardens Project.
Order Here by July 15

Some Information About Our School Gardens Project
Slow Food USA’s School Gardens Network aims to reconnect youth with their food by teaching them how to grow, cook and enjoy real food. Through increased confidence, knowledge gain and skill building, we want to empower children to become active participants in their food choices. By becoming informed eaters, today’s children will help make positive impact on the larger world of food and farming well into the future.
The goal of our chapter’s School Gardens Project is to support educators, volunteers and garden leaders to help build sustainable school gardens in our community. We work with 8-10 gardens in Sonoma County every year by providing:
• resources and references (books, websites, organizations, tools, supplies, materials, curriculum, grant information, etc.)
• volunteer assistance
• Ark of Taste seeds, transplants, and educational signage
• annual Open House at one of our gardens
• reimbursement of up to $100 per garden for garden-related expenses
• participation in Plant a Seed Program
• annual gift of a garden related item (e.g., book, tool, curriculum)
• Slow Food Curriculum Good and Clean (Fair is in progress)
Our project collaborates with Master Gardeners of Sonoma County Youth Garden Project, Sonoma County School Garden Network, and the Permaculture Design Program. We have granted additional funds for special projects such as irrigation.

Slow Farm Tour: Front Porch Farm
2021-06-17 10:00 - 11:30 | Front Porch Farm, 2550 Rio Lindo Avenue, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
Please join us for our first in-person event since 2020!
Our tour begins at 10 am and finishes at approximately 11:30 am. We will visit the orchard and blackberry plot, mixed vegetable garden, and flower section.
Space is limited, so please register at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.
The cost for the tour is $10 per person. Please pay at the door with cash or by check (checks to SF Sonoma County North).
Please bring your mask. You may also bring your lunch and we will eat together in the farm’s picnic area.
Front Porch Farm is a 110-acre mosaic of fruit and olive orchards; fields of grains, alfalfa, and pasture grasses; rows of flowers; acres of heritage vegetable crops; and vineyards on sunny hillsides. The farm runs along the Russian River in Healdsburg.

June Snail Trail: Estero Café, Laguna Farm, Black Pig Meat Co.
2021-06-01 - 2021-06-30
We continue our Snail Trail to support our Snail of Approval restaurants, farms, and producers! We will feature one to three each month by letting you know how to visit, dine, order take-out, and purchase products from them. We encourage you to visit and promote these businesses that honor Good, Clean, and Fair food in Sonoma County. Post a pic, tag the business, tag us!
@esterocafe
@lagunafarm
@blackpigmeatco
@snailofapprovalsonomacounty
#snailofapprovalsonomacounty

Estero Café
Estero Cafe
14450 Hwy 1, Valley Ford
707/876-3333
estero.cafe
The Estero Cafe is a family-friendly restaurant in a rural setting. It is owned and operated by husband/wife team Samantha and Ryan Ramey and serves classic American farm-fresh breakfast and lunch all day. Menu items are made with locally sourced organic ingredients including a commitment to pasture raised eggs, local grass fed beef, sustainable seafood, and local dairy, fruits, and vegetables. Their beverages feature products from local and regional producers.
Monday and Thursday, 8 am – 2 pm
Friday-Sunday, 7:30 am – 3:00 pm
Dine in or on the patio, or take out. Telephone or go online to see the menu or order to go. No reservations.
Snail of Approval awardee since 2017.

Laguna Farm
Laguna Farm
400 Sparkes Road, Sebastopol
707/758-1929
Laguna Farm is owned by Ignacio “Nacho” Romero. The farm features local, sustainable, fresh and seasonal fruits, vegetables and herbs proudly grown in Sebastopol. During COVID-19, the farm decided to close its CSA program and restructure the business as a farmer’s market and wholesale farm. Laguna Farm is at the Sebastopol Farmers Market on Sundays (located in the Plaza on Weeks Way in downtown Sebastopol).
Snail of Approval awardee since 2019.

Black Pig Meat Co.
Black Pig Meat Co.
707/523-4814
blackpigmeatco.com
The Black Pig Meat Co. was founded and is owned by husband/wife team, Duskie Estes and John Stewart since 2005. Their pigs are sustainably raised on family farms that respect the land and the animals in their care. The pigs are heritage breed, raised without antibiotics and hormones, and are allowed to roam free.
The artisan craft process of making their bacon takes up to 21 days. It is dry cured with brown sugar for up to 21 days and then finished with applewood smoking for about 12 hours. “The result is a bacon that is perfectly balanced in salt, sweet, and smoke; complex from the brown sugar and real wood smoke; and one where you can taste the quality of the pork.”
Black Pig Meat has a snout-to-tail philosophy. In addition to bacon, they offer a wide variety of pork products, and other merchandise (for example, try the lard lather rose geranium bath and body soap; bacon toffee lollipops; or a Black Pig baseball cap). Order products or gift certificates online.
Black Pig bacon is sold at many Sonoma County groceries and wineries. Call to order wholesale.
Snail of Approval awardee since 2019.
The Black Pig Meat Co. has other awards:
Michelin, 2019
North Bay Makers, 2017
Good Food Awards, 2017 and 2019, for its coppa and prosciutto.

Snail Trail: Featuring in May Mateo's Cocina Latina and Bernier Farms
2021-05-01 - 2021-05-31
Join Us on the Snail Trail!
Continuing on the Snail Trail, this month we visit Mateo’s Cocina Latina and Bernier Farms. We are excited that things are starting to open up and hope everyone will continue to frequent these local Snail of Approval-honored businesses. It has been a tough year and they have supported our community, and we want to return the favor by enjoying a meal and purchasing some seasonal, local produce.

May’s Snail Trail Restaurant is Mateo’s Cocina Latina
214 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg
(707) 433-1520
Mateo’s Cocina Latina is a hip cocina with a garden patio, tequila and mezcal bar with Yucatan-inspired food in Healdsburg, one block off the square. Currently serving indoors, on the patio, and to go.
Telephone or visit their website to order online, view the menu, and make a reservation.
Hours: Sunday 11:30 am-8:00 pm; Monday and Thursday 3-8 pm; Friday and Saturday 11:30 am-8:45 pm. Tuesday and Wednesday closed.
Snail of Approval awardee since 2019.

May’s Snail Trail Farm is Bernier Farms
1720 Canyon Road, Geyserville
(707) 849-7592
bernierfarms@gmail.com
Bernier Farms is a small, certified organic, family-run farm in Sonoma County’s Dry Creek and Alexander Valleys. They are a diversified farming operation, specializing in dry-farmed grapes and many different vegetables and fruits. Known for their 15 varieties of hardneck and softneck garlic, you can purchase the seed online.
Bernier Farms produce can be found at local restaurants (including Mateo’s Cocina Latina) and can be purchased at the Healdsburg Farmer Market.
Snail of Approval awardee since 2019.

Snail Trail, featuring Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria and Tierra Vegetables
2021-03-01 - 2021-03-31
Follow the Slow Food Snail Trail: online, to-go, outdoors, at farmers markets and farm stands near you.
This month we kick off the Snail Trail with a visit to Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria in Geyserville and Tierra Vegetables in Santa Rosa. Although we cannot meet in person yet, we encourage you to support these local Snail of Approval-honored businesses that support our community with good, clean and fair food for all. Come visit, dine, order take-out, and purchase their products.
Post a pic, tag the business, tag us!
@diavolageyserville
@tierravegetables
@snailofapprovalsonomacounty
#snailofapprovalsonomacounty
The Snail Trail supports our Snail of Approval awarded restaurants, farms, ranches and artisan producers. Get a full list at www.slowfoodsonomacountynorth.org/snail-of-approval/

Keeping Traditions As We Move Forward: Sonoma County North Annual Meeting
2020-12-10 17:00 - 18:30
On world Terra Madre Day, we will come together virtually to report on the status and health of our chapter, and to share some of our personal food traditions. Please join us!
There is no cost for the meeting but please register so you can receive the Zoom link.
Terra Madre Day celebrates local food on a global scale. Every December 10th thousands of people around the world organize celebrations of good, clean and fair food. Terra Madre Day brings together all who share the vision of a food system that supports local economies, that respects the environment, biodiversity, taste, and tradition.
Food Traditions
Most of us have traditional dishes our families prepared when we were young, and we have evolved our own food traditions as adults. Many of these revolve around holidays, and others are everyday food that comfort us with reminders of love and community.
We believe that keeping these food traditions in our lives helps us to move forward in an increasingly complex world.
We invite you to share one of your food traditions with us during the meeting: what is the dish? what memories do you associate with it?

Slow Books: Clementine in the Kitchen (virtual)
2020-06-29 17:30 - 19:00
When “Clémentine in the Kitchen” first appeared in 1943, it immediately captivated American readers. Written by the artist Samuel Chamberlain under the pen name Phineas Beck, it recounts the gastronomic adventures of the Beck/Chamberlain family during the decade that their beguiling Burgundian cook Clémentine produced wonderful French meals for them, both in France and in their New England home in Marblehead, MA. An appendix contains 125 recipes–classic dishes, regional specialties, and much that is useful for special occasions. But the most compelling are plain and old-fashioned. These are the dishes that identify the Clémentine family style, a style so French, so civilized, so knowing in its use of ingredients that it cannot become impractical or ever go out of date: filets de sole au vin blanc, boeuf à la mode, endives braisées― trophies of la cuisine bourgeoise that never fail to please. (Amazon)

Summer Picnic at the Gradek Ranch-postponed
2020-06-20 16:00 | Gradek Ranch, 2323 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
Date TBD

Responding to Climate Change In Sonoma County (postponed)
2020-04-05
POSTPONED: Responding to Climate Change in Sonoma County

We are following the wisdom of other organizations and the Health Department in Sonoma County, and are postponing our climate change panel discussion that was scheduled for April 5.
We are disappointed, but we look forward to rescheduling this important session about how residents, farmers, and government are responding to aspects of climate change in Sonoma County.
In the meantime, be cautious and stay healthy!

3rd Annual Snail of Approval Awards
2020-02-26 17:30 - 19:30 | Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, CA, 95472, United States
Join Slow Food Russian River and Slow Food Sonoma County North as we honor our 2019 Snail of Approval farm awardees:
Be Here Farm + Nature – Sonoma County
Bernier Farms – Healdsburg
Laguna Farm – Sebastopol
We are excited to announce that we are also launching our Artisan Producer Snail of Approval program and awarding our first Snails to:
DaVero Farms & Winery – Healdsburg (olive oil)
Tilted Shed Ciderworks – Windsor
Our 2019 Snail of Approval renewal honorees:
Backyard – Forestville
Black Piglet – Sonoma County
Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria -Geyserville
Estero Cafe – Valley Ford
The Naked Pig – Santa Rosa
Get your tickets now!
After the ceremony we will enjoy “nibbles & bites” from our Snail of Approval restaurants, farms, artisan producers and our own Slow Food Sonoma County North Events Committee. Along with wine & other beverages.
Snail of Approval recognizes these food-related providers in Sonoma County for making significant contributions to transform our food system to one that is, good, clean and fair.

Slow Books: "The Omnivore's Dilemma"
2020-02-24 17:30 - 19:00 | Cloverdale
On Monday, February 24, Slow Books will discuss The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan. We will meet at 5:30 pm at Denaire Nixon’s home in Cloverdale. RSVP required
What should we have for dinner? Ten years ago, Michael Pollan confronted us with this seemingly simple question and, with “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” his brilliant and eye-opening exploration of our food choices, demonstrated that how we answer it today may determine not only our health but our survival as a species. In the years since, Pollan’s revolutionary examination has changed the way Americans think about food. Bringing wide attention to the little-known but vitally important dimensions of food and agriculture in America, Pollan launched a national conversation about what we eat and the profound consequences that even the simplest everyday food choices have on both ourselves and the natural world. Ten years later, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” continues to transform the way Americans think about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating. (Amazon)

Around the Slow Table with "My Kitchen Year"
2020-02-08 17:30 - 19:30
Do you like to try new recipes and share the results with a small group of friends? Do you enjoy discussing a dish’s ingredients and process of creating it? If you said YES, then join us for dinner based on recipes each guest prepares from My Kitchen Year, by Ruth Reichl.
Lynn Davis’s home in Windsor
The address will be sent when you register.
This is how it works. Get a copy of My Kitchen Year—and select a few recipes that appeal to you. When you register, your host will contact you to select which recipe you should prepare and how many people it should feed (a recipe that serves 4-6 people is usually sufficient).
Please also bring a beverage to share.
At dinner you’ll get to know each other and discuss your experiences preparing your dish. You may also nominate your own favorite cookbook for another Slow Table meal.
To register, please RSVP to slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.
Ruth Reichl, My Kitchen Year
My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons as Ruth Reichl heals through the simple pleasures of cooking after the abrupt closing of Gourmet magazine. Each dish Reichl prepares for herself–and for her family and friends–represents a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring. Part cookbook, part personal narrative, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Year reveals Reichl’s most treasured recipes, to be shared over and over again with those we love. (Amazon)

Slow Books, From Scratch by Tembi Locke
2020-01-13 17:30 - 19:00
Event is full!

Slow Dinner on Terra Madre Day, 2019
2019-12-10 17:30
Please join us on Terra Madre Day, December 10, to celebrate Slow Food’s 30th Anniversary!
We will gather in our candle-lit barn to celebrate 30 years of Good, Clean, and Fair Food with Slow Food around the world.
Our meal will be prepared by our Leadership team and feature appetizers, roast pork, Bodega Red potatoes from our chapter garden, roasted vegetables and salad from Lantern Farm, and apple crumble.
Wine will accompany dinner, and Irish coffee will finish off the evening.
Come see old friends and meet new ones, get to know your Board members, and let us know what you’d like to see in 2019. We especially welcome those of you who are new to our community!
$45.00 Slow Food members, $55.00 non-members
Tickets
If you prefer, you may send a check to SFSCN, 985 Lupine Court, Healdsburg 95448. IF YOU ARE SENDING A CHECK, PLEASE REGISTER FIRST AT slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com. We must have your check no later than December 7.
Space is limited–sign up now!
Terra Madre Day will be celebrated across the world on December 10. It is an opportunity for the global Slow Food network to enjoy local food and promote sustainable production and consumption to their communities and local decision makers. Thousands of actions in all corners of the world highlight our determination to defend our planet’s future and our philosophy of good, clean and fair food for all.
This year, we also celebrate the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Slow Food Manifesto in Paris. For a full history of these years, go to 30 Years of Slow Food, A Nice Italian Story.

Holiday Food Traditions-Event Cancelled
2019-11-17 14:30 - 16:30
Event Cancelled

Farm Tour: Lantern Farm
2019-09-25 10:00 - 12:00
Please join Rebecca Bozzelli for a tour of her Lantern Farm!
We will tour through the fields of veggies, fruit, and flowers and sample some produce in the fields. Flowers and produce will be available for purchase in the barn.
26209 River Road, Cloverdale
$10 per person. Get your ticket at Brown Paper Tickets
The tour will be followed by a no-host lunch at Trading Post Restaurant in town.
Please let us know if you are coming to lunch at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com (lunch is not included in the ticket price).
Both Lantern Farm & Trading Post have been awarded our Snail of Approval.
Lantern Farm is a mixed produce and flower production in Cloverdale and one of the first Snail of Approval farms in Sonoma County. While Rebecca was looking for land, her daughter suggested calling the farm Lantern Farm. This seemed like a fine name and the name Lantern Farm was born. A short while later, and conveniently just down the street, Rebecca and her family were looking at a potential farm site on River Road that used to be a prune orchard many years ago and has been fallow since. While inspecting the barn, two old lanterns were hanging on the back wall, a sure sign that this land was to be Lantern Farm. That was in winter of 2016. The lease was signed in April of that same year, and Lantern Farm has been growing ever since.

Around the Slow Table, Cookbook Version (full, waitlist only)
2019-09-12 18:00 | Cloverdale
Around the Slow Table, Ruth Reichl, “My Kitchen Year”
Do you like to try new recipes and share the results with a small group of friends? Do you enjoy discussing a dish’s ingredients and process of creating it? If your answer is YES, then join us for dinner based on recipes each guest prepares from My Kitchen Year, by Ruth Reichl.
The location is Shelley and Sam Witten’s home in Cloverdale; their address will be sent upon registration.
For this dinner, Shelley has selected recipes from My Kitchen Year to create a menu. When you register, she will send you the list of recipes. Select which one you’d like to make and let Shelley know. Make enough for 12 people to have a small amount (a recipe that serves about 6 people should be sufficient).
At dinner you’ll get to know each other and discuss your experiences preparing your dish. You may also nominate your own favorite cookbook for another Slow Table meal.
Limited to 12 people (including hosts)
Please also bring a beverage to share.
Please RSVP by September 6 to slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.

Ruth Reichl, My Kitchen Year
My Kitchen Year follows the change of seasons as Ruth Reichl heals through the simple pleasures of cooking after the abrupt closing of Gourmet magazine. Each dish Reichl prepares for herself–and for her family and friends–represents a life’s passion for food: a blistering ma po tofu that shakes Reichl out of the blues; a decadent grilled cheese sandwich that accompanies a rare sighting in the woods around her home; a rhubarb sundae that signals the arrival of spring. Part cookbook, part personal narrative, part paean to the household gods, My Kitchen Year reveals Reichl’s most treasured recipes, to be shared over and over again with those we love. (Amazon)

National Heirloom Expo-Slow Food California Booth
2019-09-10 09:00 - 2019-09-12 21:00 | Sonoma County Fairgrounds, 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, 95404, United States
Visit us at the Slow Food California Booth
Show Info
Tickets are available at the gate on September 10, 11 & 12, 2019.
Gates are open 9 AM to 9 PM.
One Day Ticket $15 or Three Day Pass $30 (Purchased at the gate) and Children are Free!

Download a copy of our brochure here

Slow Tapas In The Vineyard
2019-08-24 18:00
Come spend the evening under the redwoods and savor Sonoma County tapas, inspired by our local bounty. Enjoy the vineyard view, music, local wines, and perhaps a friendly game of bocce. This is a party you don’t want to miss!
Tickets are $60 per person. Please RSVP at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com and send a check to hold your place.
Your check should be written to Slow Food SCN and mailed to M. Crapeau, Treasurer, 985 Lupine Court, Healdsburg 95448. Confirmation and directions to the event will be sent when we receive your check.
A special treat for the evening will be local singer Carlo Solivan. Carlo will regale us with a variety of traditional, swing, and oldie-goldie songs. His voice is divine and–with the combination of the setting, food, and music–you’ll think you’re in heaven!

Slow Books: Discussion of Diana Abu-Jaber's "The Language of Baklava"
2019-08-12 17:30 - 19:00
Join us for a Slow Book discussion of The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber.
There is no charge for this event, but space is limited. Please RSVP to slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com. Once we receive your registration, we will send you additional information and directions to the event.

What Is Slow Books?
Slow Books is a series of discussions of food-related books written from a variety of perspectives–chef, critic, consumer, producer. Meetings are held every 6 weeks and are open to everyone with an interest in the current book. Books are chosen by the group. Hosting and discussion leader changes for each meeting.
The Language of Baklava, by Diana Abu-Jaber.
Diana Abu-Jaber’s vibrant, humorous memoir weaves together delicious food memories that illuminate the two cultures of her childhood—American and Jordanian. Here are stories of being raised by a food-obsessed Jordanian father and tales of Lake Ontario shish kabob cookouts and goat stew feasts under Bedouin tents in the desert. These sensuously evoked repasts, complete with recipes, paint a loving and complex portrait of Diana’s impractical, displaced immigrant father who, like many an immigrant before him, cooked to remember the place he came from and to pass that connection on to his children. The Language of Baklava irresistibly invites us to sit down at the table with Diana’s family, sharing unforgettable meals that turn out to be as much about “grace, difference, faith, love” as they are about food. (Amazon)

Slow Food Potluck Feast And Annual Chapter Meeting
2019-08-11 16:30
Please join us for a Slow Food-style potluck and annual chapter meeting!
There is no cost for the afternoon, but please sign up for planning purposes at Brown Paper Tickets.
This year we will gather at the table to savor a variety of delicious dishes prepared by everyone, and wine provided by Sonoma County North. While we enjoy our meal, chapter leaders and guest speakers will update us on the past rewarding year for Sonoma County North.
There will also be time to mingle and get to know new members.
Please bring:

An appetizer, main course, side dish, or dessert to share, and
Your place setting.
We will provide wine, waters, and glasses.

If you are not currently a member of Slow Food, you may join or renew at the meeting with cash or check ($60 individual; $100 family; $30 under 30). You may also sign up online–specify CA-Sonoma County North as your chapter.
JOIN OR RENEW HERE

Slow Food Nations
2019-07-19 - 2019-07-21
Slow Food Nations is a major international food festival hosted in Denver, CO. This year, we explore Where Tradition Meets Innovation. Be part of the global Slow Food movement and connect with 25,000 farmers, foodies and families.
July 19, 2019: Leader Summit and Opening Party
July 20-21, 2019: Festival on Larimer Square in downtown Denver. We close down the streets and celebrate Slow Food with a Taste Marketplace, family pavilion, cooking demos, workshops, and lots of interactive food fun. Free entry with select ticketed events. Open to all!
Slow Food Nations

ABOUT SLOW FOOD
Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food. There are over 150 chapters in the USA.

Annual Slow Food Summer Picnic
2019-07-13 16:30 - 19:30 | Gradek Ranch, 2323 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
The Annual Slow Food Summer Picnic at Gradek Family Farm is Coming!
Please join us for a summer picnic at the Gradek Family Farm lake in Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley. Enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new members and neighbors, partake in delicious food prepared by the Sonoma County North Events team, and cool off in the beautiful lake.
We provide the meal and you bring either an appetizer or cookies from your favorite recipe!
MENU
Grilled hand-made pork sausage
Grilled onions and sweet peppers
Old-fashioned Potato Salad
Salad with local greens, vinaigrette dressing
Costeaux potato rolls
Please bring:
An APPETIZER if your last name begins with A-M
COOKIES if your last name begins with N-Z
A beverage
Your place setting and glass
Your bathing suit (optional)
Tickets are $30 for Slow Food members, $40 for nonmembers. Children under 12 are free, and over 12 are $10. Buy your tickets at Brown Paper Tickets.
Directions to the lake will be sent upon registration.
There will be a raffle to raise funds for our chapter’s School Garden Project.
Tickets are $5 each–plan to buy lots of tickets to increase your chances of winning a local treasure–and invest in gardens for children to grow and eat Ark of Taste vegetables!

Slow Food Tour of Jackson Family Gardens
2019-06-25 10:00 - 12:30 | Kendall Jackson Gardens, 5007 Fulton Road, Santa Rosa, CA, 95403
Sonoma County North is delighted to invite you to a special tour of the gardens at Kendall Jackson Wine Estate with the Director of Culinary Gardens, Tucker Taylor.
We will meet at 9:50 am for a 10 am start. The tour will be about 1.5 hours, followed by a bring your own brown-bag lunch in the gardens.
There is no charge for the tour, but because space is limited, please RSVP to slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.
The Jackson Family Gardens offer seven distinct garden spaces. Some are educational in nature; some planted solely for beauty. Still others provide the fruit, vegetables and herbs that inspire the food & wine pairings created by our Culinary Team. A veritable cornucopia of beauty and flavor, the gardens are a core component of our commitment to food and wine education.
Kendall Jackson Gardens

Tucker Taylor is Jackson Family Wine’s Director of Culinary Gardens. His impressive resume includes the redesign of the culinary garden at The French Laundry and five years of growing specialty produce for Chef Thomas Keller’s restaurants before joining Jackson Family Wines.
His gardens provide produce for winery chefs Justin Wangler and Tracey Shepos Cenami and pastry chef Robert Nieto. This trio of talent also collaborated on their 2018 cookbook, Season, which was recently awarded Cookbook of the Year by the International Association of Culinary Professionals.
In addition, the garden grows produce for some of the best chefs in the Bay Area–all three 3-Michelin-star restaurants in San Francisco, as well as Single Thread in Healdsburg–and for those in need through the nonprofit Farm to Pantry, where Taylor serves on the board. (Slow Food Sonoma County North Newsletter, June 2019)

Slow Books: Discussion of Daniel Stone's "The Food Explorer"
2019-06-24 17:30 - 19:00 | Windsor, CA
Join us for a Slow Book discussion of The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats,” by Daniel Stone.
There is no charge for this event, but space is limited. Please RSVP to slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com. Once we receive your registration, we will send you additional information and directions to the event.
What Is Slow Books?
Slow Books is a series of discussions of food-related books written from a variety of perspectives–chef, critic, consumer, producer. Meetings are held every 6 weeks and are open to everyone with an interest in the current book. Books are chosen by the group. Hosting and discussion leader changes for each meeting.
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats, by Daniel Stone.
David Fairchild was a late-nineteenth-century botanist who traveled the globe and introduced diverse crops such as avocados, mangoes, seedless grapes—and thousands more—to the American plate.
In the nineteenth century, American meals were about subsistence, not enjoyment. But as a new century approached, appetites broadened, and David Fairchild set out in search of foods that would enrich the American farmer and enchant the American eater.
Kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, and hops from Bavaria. Peaches from China, avocados from Chile, and pomegranates from Malta. Fairchild’s finds weren’t just limited to food: From Egypt he sent back a variety of cotton that revolutionized an industry, and via Japan he introduced the cherry blossom tree, forever brightening America’s capital. Along the way, he was arrested, caught diseases, and bargained with island tribes. But his culinary ambition came during a formative era, and through him, America transformed into the most diverse food system ever created. (Amazon)

Slow Books: Discussion of Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential"
2019-05-21 17:30 - 19:00 | Healdsburg
Join us for a Slow Book discussion of Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.
There is no charge for this event, but space is limited. Please RSVP to slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com. Once we receive your registration, we will send you additional information and directions to the event.
What Is Slow Books?
Slow Books is a series of discussions of food-related books written from a variety of perspectives–chef, critic, consumer, producer. Meetings are held every 6 weeks and are open to everyone with an interest in the current book. Books are chosen by the group. Hosting and discussion leader changes for each meeting.
*Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony Bourdain*
“Kitchen Confidential” reveals what Bourdain calls “twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine.”
Bourdain uses a “take-no-prisoners” attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable book, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. From Bourdain’s first oyster in the Gironde, to his lowly position as dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown (where he witnesses for the first time the real delights of being a chef); from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, to drug dealers in the east village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain’s tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable.
“Kitchen Confidential” will make your mouth water while your belly aches with laughter. You’ll beg the chef for more, please. (Amazon)

Let's Do It Together! EmBrace Joy + Justice
2019-05-19 15:00 - 17:30
Slow Food Russian River & Sonoma County North invite you to an afternoon of fundraising–with plenty of food, drink, and fun!
Join us as we raise funds for Equity, Inclusion & Justice (EIJ) programs at Slow Food Nations coming up in Denver this summer. Included is a delicious appetizer party featuring selections from the Slow Food Ark of Taste. Local wine and beer will be available for purchase. Nonalcoholic drinks will be offered as well.

Tickets & EmBracelets
$20 General admission
$40 General admission with EmBracelet
Donate any amount directly to EmBrace Joy + Justice, even if you can’t attend
Did we mention fun?
Come enjoy the live music. We will also have speakers–a little education can be fun too! Mingle with “Slow Celebrities” and find out the latest slow food updates on Slow Food Nations and beyond. Have fun bidding on live auction experiences and we might even have a raffle!
Did we mention fundraiser?
By purchasing an EmBracelet for a $20 (or greater) donation, a primary fundraiser of this project, you proclaim your support of Joy + Justice in our foodsystem. They are handmade by artisans in the community surrounding the Mungere School in Tanzania. Mungere’s half-acre organic garden feeds up to 200 students two meals a day. Agricultural coursework built around the garden provides students with practical skills and work experience in sustainability.
So much fun in one afternoon, you won’t want to miss it. Bring your appetite and your wallet, and we will see you there.
Slow Food believes food shouldn’t just taste good, it should be good for the planet and for every person, plant, and animal that participates in our global food system. We fight for food justice and embrace the diversity and deliciousness that such a system provides. We can do it together!
EIJ fundraising is an effort of Slow Food USA.

Tastes & Tales of Terra Madre Dinner
2019-04-13 17:30 - 20:30 | Shone Farm, 7450 Steve Olson Lane , Forestville, 95436
It’s time for our bi-annual Tastes & Tales of Terra Madre dinner to celebrate Slow Food and our chapter’s delegates to Italy’s Terra Madre! Three delegates represented Sonoma County North: Kathy Matonak (chapter leader), Kelly Osman (Oz Family Farms), and Ellen Shick (food writer). Come join us as we hear Tales of their adventures and have Tastes that are inspired by this international food event.
Dinner will be prepared by Slow Food Snail of Approval chef/owners of Zazu restaurant+farm and Estero Café, with assistance from Backyard.

MENU
>Assortment of Slow Appetizers
>Local Wines
>Deconstructed Salad of Mixed Greens and Smoked Fish, Samantha and Ryan Ramey, Estero Cafe
>Honey-Brined Pastured Chicken with Meyer Lemon Conserve, Duskie Estes and John Stewart, Zazu kitchen+farm; brined by Daniel Kedan, Backyard. Chicken from A4 Farm (co-owner Jessica Ascoop is recipient of the 2018-19 Local Farmer grant from Sonoma County North.)
>Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Aioli and Horseradish Gremolata, Ras-Al-Nanout Carrots, Duskie Estes and John Stewart, Zazu kitchen+farm.
>Polenta Cake with Meyer Lemon and Cream, Sonoma County North
Begin the evening savoring a selection of appetizers and enjoying local wine to the beat of classic jazz from the Blue Smoothies. Then peruse the treasures offered in a silent auction before sitting down for a three-course dinner.
This evening will raise funds to send our delegates to Terra Madre in 2020.
Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4188806
Additional details will be coming soon about this fun & delicious event!!
Some Background About Terra Madre
Slow Food International holds a bi-annual gathering in Turin, Italy called Terra Madre Salone del Gusto. Seven-thousand delegates from 160 countries, over 800 exhibitors, 300 Slow Food Presidia, and 500 Terra Madre food communities took part in the event in 2018.
The theme of Terra Madre 2018 was Food for Change. Event participants were asked to reflect on their food choices: what production methods they support, what they cook, what they put in their shopping cart. Every day the food we choose brings up questions about our health, but also the environment, social justice, economics, politics and many greater issues.

Slow Books: "Coming to My Senses" (event full)
2019-03-26 17:30 | Healdsburg
Join us for wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a Slow Book discussion of Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters.
Lisa Hunter’s home, Healdsburg (address will be sent upon registration)
Please bring an hors d’oeuvre and beverage to share.
There is no charge for this event, but space is limited. Please RSVP to Slow Food Sonoma County North

What Is Slow Books?
Slow Books is a series of discussions of food-related books written from a variety of perspectives–chef, critic, consumer, producer. Meetings are held every 6 weeks and are open to everyone with an interest in the current book. Books are chosen by the group. Hosting and discussion leader changes for each meeting
Coming to My Senses: The Making of A Counterculture Cook by Alice Waters
When Alice Waters opened the doors of her “little French restaurant” in Berkeley, California in 1971 at the age of 27, no one ever anticipated the indelible mark it would leave on the culinary landscape—Alice least of all. Fueled in equal parts by naiveté and a relentless pursuit of beauty and pure flavor, she turned her passion project into an iconic institution that redefined American cuisine for generations of chefs and food lovers.
In “Coming to My Senses,” Alice retraces the events that led her to 1517 Shattuck Avenue and the tumultuous times that emboldened her to find her own voice as a cook when the prevailing food culture was embracing convenience and uniformity.
Dotted with stories, recipes, photographs, and letters, “Coming to My Senses” is at once deeply personal and modestly understated, a quietly revealing look at one woman’s evolution from a rebellious yet impressionable follower to a respected activist who effects social and political change on a global level through the common bond of food. (Amazon)
