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
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
More information to come!
Learn more about the film.

Slow Books, Women in the Kitchen by Anne Willan
2026-04-13
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).
