8th Annual Snail of Approval Awards-Slow Food in Sonoma County
2026-02-25 17:30 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, CA, 95472, United States
On February 25, Slow Food in Sonoma County invites you to gather at the Sebastopol Grange for an evening of connection, conversation, and celebration at our 8th Annual Snail of Approval Awards.
This year, we are honoring 21 Sonoma County food businesses—from regenerative farms and community markets to beloved restaurants and artisan producers—whose work reflects Slow Food values in action every day. These are the businesses nourishing our community while caring for the land, supporting workers, and strengthening local food traditions.
The evening will feature:

· Recognition of our 2025 Snail of Approval awardees and renewal recipients
· Opportunities to meet farmers, chefs, and food makers and hear their stories
· Light bites and beverages highlighting local producers
· A warm, informal atmosphere designed for community and conversation

At a time when small food businesses face growing challenges, the Snail of Approval Awards offer a chance to pause, come together, and celebrate what’s working—and the people making it happen.
Whether you’re a longtime Slow Food supporter or simply curious about where your food comes from, we hope you’ll join us for this meaningful community celebration.
Get Your Tickets Now!
2025 Snail of Approval Award Recipients

Ambix Spirits, Sebastopol
The Beet Restaurant & Wine Shop, Cloverdale
Ceres Community Project, Sebastopol
Chad’s Soup Shack & Catering, Sonoma County
Cloverdale Certified Farmers Market, Cloverdale
Dahlia & Sage Community Market, Cloverdale
Fishetarian Fish Market, Bodega Bay
Front Porch Farm, Healdsburg
Gabacool Provisions, Sonoma County
The Guerneville Certified Farmers Market, Guerneville
Hot Drops, Sonoma County
Jupiter Foods, Petaluma
Knight Valley Wagyu, Calistoga
Little Saint Farm, Healdsburg
Little Saint Restaurant, Healdsburg
Longer Table Farm, Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market, Santa Rosa
Tenfold Farmstand, Petaluma
The Redwood, Sebastopol
Valley bar + bottle, Sonoma
Valley Swim Club, Sonoma

Also recognized during the celebration are 18 businesses receiving Snail of Approval renewals for 2025: Americana Santa Rosa, Bernier Farms, Black Pig Meat Co/Black Piglet, COOKIE…take a bite!, Corner Project, DaVero Farms & Winery, Diavola Pizzeria & Salumeria, Estero Café, Gold Ridge Organic Farms, Handline, Laguna Farm, Lunchette, Red Horse Pizza, Seven Moons Farm, SingleThread Farm & Restaurant, Sunray Farm, Tierra Vegetables, Tilted Shed Ciderworks.
Visit our Snail of Approval map for a full list of local Snail of Approval awardees.
Snail of Approval is a recognition given to food businesses that pursue and practice Slow Food values of good, clean and fair food for all. As a locally run but internationally embraced program, Snail of Approval is a powerful validation for businesses. Slow Food in Sonoma County is a joint project of two local Slow Food chapters, Sonoma County North and Russian River, run in partnership with Slow Food USA.

Slow Books, The Physiology of Taste by Brillat Savarin, translated by MFK Fisher
2026-03-02 | CA
Our Slow Books group has reached capacity, but this is our February selection—join us in spirit and read along.

A delightful and hilarious classic about the joys of the table, The Physiology of Taste is the most famous book about food ever written. First published in France in 1825 and continuously in print ever since, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin’s masterpiece is a historical, philosophical, and epicurean collection of recipes, reflections, and anecdotes on everything and anything gastronomical. Brillat-Savarin—who famously stated “Tell me what you eat and I shall tell you what you are”—shrewdly expounds upon culinary matters that still resonate today, from the rise of the destination restaurant to matters of diet and weight, and in M. F. K. Fisher, whose commentary is both brilliant and amusing, he has an editor with a sensitivity and wit to match his own.

Olive Tree Pruning at Tallgrass Ranch, Sonoma
2026-03-03 10:00 - 12:00 | Tallgrass Ranch, 27255 Arnold Dr, Sonoma, CA, 95476
More information to come!

Slow Cinema, We Feed People, Healdsburg
2026-03-25 15:00 - 17:00 | CA
More information to come!
Learn more about the film.

Slow Books, Women in the Kitchen by Anne Willan
2026-04-13 | CA
Our Slow Books group has reached capacity, but this is our March selection—join us in spirit and read along.

Anne Willan, multi-award-winning culinary historian, cookbook writer, teacher, and founder of La Varenne Cooking School in Paris, explores the lives and work of women cookbook authors whose essential books have defined cooking over the past three hundred years. Beginning with the first published cookbook by Hannah Woolley in 1661 to the early colonial days to the transformative popular works by Fannie Farmer, Irma Rombauer, Julia Child, Edna Lewis, Marcella Hazan, and up to Alice Waters working today.
Willan offers a brief biography of each influential woman, highlighting her key contributions, seminal books, and representative dishes. The book features fifty original recipes—as well as updated versions Willan has tested and modernized for the contemporary kitchen.
Women in the Kitchen is an engaging narrative that seamlessly moves through the centuries to help readers understand the ways cookbook authors inspire one another, that they in part owe their places in history to those who came before them, and how they forever change the culinary landscape. This “informative and inspiring book is a reminder that the love of delicious food and the care and preparation that goes into it can create a common bond” (Booklist).

Ranch Tour & Lunch
2026-05-08 10:30 - 13:30 | CA
TOUR: STEMPLE CREEK RANCH
900 Burbank Lane, Tomales
Join us for a tour of Stemple Creek Ranch, acclaimed for its superior grass-fed and finished meats and regenerative and organic agricultural practices. The ranch has been home to the Poncia family for four generations. “We seek to enhance and rehabilitate our entire ecosystem by focusing on soil health and increasing carbon in our land.”
We encourage you to support the ranch by purchasing their products: meat (beef, lamb, pork, chicken) and swag (honey, tallow lip and hand balm, caps and more). Please order ahead of time and pick up at the tour.
LUNCH: ESTERO CAFE
14451 Highway 1, Valley Ford
After our ranch tour, we will drive a short distance to Estero Cafe for lunch. The menu is their signature cheeseburgers with Stemple Creek beef and Estero Gold cheese, french fries, a house-made cookie, and tea or lemonade. The vegetarian option is mushroom melt with coleslaw.
Beer and wine is available for purchase.
Tickets are $50 per person ($55 for non-members), which covers the ranch tour and lunch. Space is limited. Note that ticket sales end on May 1.
About Stemple Creek Ranch
Our goal is to work in harmony with Mother Nature to promote optimal biodiversity that ensures the long term health and productivity of the ranch. Most of our pastureland is Certified Organic, and our free range beef and lamb are 100% grass fed and grass finished. We rotationally graze our stock on open pasture from birth to harvest. They are never supplemented with grains, corn, or soy, and never receive artificial hormones, growth promotants, or antibiotics. Our pigs are humanely raised in large outdoor pens where they enjoy a vegetarian diet with plenty of room to socialize and express natural behaviors.
About Estero Cafe
Located in Valley Ford, Estero Cafe offers fresh, farm-to-table American comfort food. We are dedicated to local sourcing, by procuring locally farmed proteins and vegetables for all our dishes. In that way we also support our community by providing healthy, delicious meals. We are also happy to feature beverages from regional producers. Estero Cafe owners are Ryan and Samantha Ramey; it holds a Snail of Approval in Sonoma County.

Slow Food 100-Mile Dinner
2026-05-30 18:00 - 20:30 | Diaz Ranch/Colibri Vineyard, 26607 River Rd, Cloverdale, CA, 95425, United States
Experience the flavors of our region in their purest form. A 100-mile dinner celebrates ingredients sourced entirely from within 100 miles—highlighting the farmers, producers, and artisans who make our local food community so vibrant.
Join us this May for an intimate and memorable evening at a beautiful private estate in Cloverdale.
Enjoy a thoughtfully crafted five-course menu with wine pairings, created and served by members of our chapter’s Events Team. Each dish will reflect the season at its peak, showcasing the very best of what our region has to offer.
With just 16 seats at the table, this is a rare opportunity to gather, connect, and savor a truly local dining experience.
$165 per person | Limited seating
Proceeds from the evening support our Slow Food projects, including initiatives that uplift local farmers and food businesses.

Annual Summer Picnic at Gradek Ranch
2026-07-11 16:00 | Gradek Ranch, 2323 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
More info coming soon!

Tabling at Cloverdale Certified Farmers Market
2026-07-19 09:30 - 13:00 | Cloverdale Certified Farmers Market, West 2nd Street, Cloverdale, CA, 95425, United States
Come to the market and stop by our booth, we would love to see you!

Riverfront Park Potluck
2026-08-19 17:30 - 19:30 | Riverfront Regional Park, 7821 Eastside Rd, Healdburg, CA, 95448, United States
More information coming soon.

Tabling at Healdsburg Farmers' Market
2026-08-22 08:00 - 12:00 | Healdsburg Farmers’ Market, 3 North St at Vine, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
