Tag Archives: slow food

6th Annual Snail of Approval Awards

Celebrate our 2023 Snail of Approval Awardees! We will honor 12 local restaurants, farms, and artisan producers at the 6th Annual Snail of Approval Awards ceremony at the Sebastopol Grange.

Meet our community of honorees and enjoy their tastes and displays, while learning about local food businesses. They will be joining a growing group of local Sonoma County food purveyors and hundreds of awardees from across the country.

Get your tickets now!

2023 Snail of Approval Awardees:

Light bites and beverages will be served.

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 recognized program, Snail of Approval is a powerful recognition. 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 Food USA’s Snail of Approval directory is a national interactive Snail of Approval map that allows users to find businesses across the US that are embracing the Slow Food values.

Visit the Sonoma County map for a full list of local Snail of Approval awardees.

5th Annual Snail of Approval Awards

Tickets

Join us as we celebrate our 2022 Snail of Approval Awardees! A reception will be held after the awards and you will be able to visit our awardees and enjoy their tastes and displays. Our Slow Food Events team will also be presenting bites and beverages.

2022 Snail of Approval Awardees:

Americana, Santa Rosa

COOKIE…take a bite!, Santa Rosa

Corner Project Ales & Eats, Geyserville

Gold Ridge Organic Farms, Sebastopol

Lunchette, Petaluma

Maison Porcella, Windsor

Sunray Farm, Sonoma

Taub Family Outpost, Sonoma

In 2022 the following Snail of Approval awardees continued to provide good, clean and fair food in Sonoma County and were extended for another two years.

Bernier FarmsBlack Pig Meat CoBlack Piglet Food TruckDaVero Farms & WineryDiavola Pizzeria and SalumeriaEstero CafeHandline, Laguna Farm, Seven Moons Farm (formerly Lantern Farm), The Naked Pig CafeRed Horse PizzaTierra VegetablesTilted Shed CiderworksSingle Thread

Slow Food USA’s Snail of Approval directory is a national interactive Snail of Approval map that allows users to find businesses across the US that are embracing the Slow Food values.

Visit the Sonoma County map for a full list of local Snail of Approval awardees.

Slow Food in Sonoma County awards the Snail of Approval to local restaurants, farms/ranches and producers who are making a significant contribution to improving the food system. Snail of Approval is an international program which we run locally in partnership with Slow Food USA. Slow Food in Sonoma County is a partnership of two local chapters, Russian River and Sonoma County North.

Terra Madre Day Dinner-Sold Out

Celebrate Terra Madre Day With Us!

SFSCN-Terra Madre Day 2015-1

Adieu to the Red Barn, home to many fabulous and convivial Slow Food events.

Please join us for dinner on Terra Madre Day. This year we are observing Terra Madre Day with dinner in a new location. We leave behind our wonderful red barn, and will gather at Relish Culinary Adventures, 14 Matheson Street, Healdsburg.

JFP TheWholeDuck Day5 283 360xOur speakers for the evening with be Jim Reichardt, a fourth-generation duck farmer, and his daughter Jennifer Reichardt who is part of the Liberty team and head of Raft Wines.

Our dinner will feature Duck Confit Cassoulet and will be prepared with Liberty Duck. This recipe is from our speaker Jennifer’s new cookbook “The Whole Duck”. (Cookbooks will be available for purchase at the dinner.)

Wine will be included.

You may have heard of our famous 100-mile dinners

There will be two options to join in on one of these upcoming meals in the Spring or Summer of 2023. The first will be a silent auction for a dinner for eight people in an individual’s home. Also offered will be a buy-in dinner in which anyone can buy a seat and join with others at the dinner. And yes, every ingredient in the meal is from within 100 miles of the location of the dinner!

Space is limited–reserve your place now!

Tickets are $60 for Slow Food members, $75 for non-members. Sales will close on December 7, 2022.

400x200 testata2Terra Madre Day is on December 10 every year around the world. It is Slow Food’s way to promote the diversity of food traditions and production, and show how our network is using its creativity and knowledge to build a better food future.

Olive Oil Tasting on the Farm

olives-789140 340

Spend an afternoon with us learning what goes into producing a local olive oil, and tasting the differences among the oils.

with

Colleen McGlynn, DaVero Farm and Winery

Russ Messing, Deergnaw Olive Oil

Dawn Lindelof, Moon Dog Olive Farm

Nancy Lilly, Tallgrass Ranch

Tickets are $20 each for Slow Food members, $30 for non-members.

Each producer will describe the production of their olive oil, from the selection of tree varieties through their cultivation, to harvesting and pressing of the olives, and blending and bottling the oil.

To better appreciate our small production local producers, read Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, by Tom Mueller before attending this event!

DaVero

“Grow what belongs here. Be patient.” This simple premise summarizes everything we’ve learned, and guides us in everything we do — how we care for our land, how we farm, how we make wine and olive oil and the myriad other products from this magical place.

In 1988, after careful research and some incredible luck, we took cuttings from an ancient olive grove in the hills to the east of Lucca, in the heart of the Tuscan countryside. The trees from which we took the cuttings are over 800 years old, and the farm has been in the same family since the 1400s! While the varieties are common across Tuscany, and the proportions typical (50% Leccino, 25% Frantoio, 15% Maurino, and 10% Pendolino), that grove has very distinct clones — essentially, sub-varietals — whose fruit makes an oil with a flavor profile unlike any other.

Deergnaw

Deergnaw Olive Oil is a unique blend. We don’t think that there is any other oil that has the particular varietals of our oil. From Lombardia in the north of Italy, the Cassaliva; from Liguria, also in the north, Taggiasca; from Puglia in the extreme south-east, Coratina; and from Apulia, also in the south, Nocciara. There is also a smattering of Picholine from France and a touch of Pendolino from Tuscany as the pollinator.

Approximately 700 trees comprise our three and a half acre orchard. We planted the trees, mostly one gallon size, fifteen years ago and the first fruit appeared three years later. Since then, each year we have had an ever-greater yield. This year the orchard produced 7 tons of olives, which translated into 150 cases of 500 milliliter bottles compared to 69 cases in ’07.

Moon Dog

Planted and farmed by two crazy people that didn’t think about the work–they just wanted to make their slice of the world a little more delicious!

Moon Dog Olive Farm is planted to traditional Tuscan varieties; Leccino, Frantoio, and Pendolino. The 280 trees are organically farmed by Dawn and Chris Lindelof in their “spare time.” Moon Dog Olive Farm is located in the Northern part of Alexander Valley in Cloverdale, not far from the Russian River. This Extra Virgin Olive Oil is only available at the farm and at local markets and special events. Every vintage is a little different. But the fruity fragrance and spicy finish is definitive in every bottling. We can’t wait to show you our place.

Tallgrass

Tallgrass Ranch Estate Blend Olive Oil is fruity with a medium amount of bitterness and pungency. This is not achieved merely by combining all the gallons of oil that we produce. Instead, each year we hold the oil from each harvest day separately so that we can gauge the unique qualities of each batch. Only then do we make blending decisions, hoping to be able to use all of the oil produced each year in our Estate Blend, but sometimes needing to exclude some.

The Italian trees, primarily Frantoio and Leccino, supported by pollinators Pendolino, Moraiolo, and Maurino, provide the backbone of the blend, having high levels of fruitiness, green and grassy touches, as well as high polyphenols—that bitterness and pungency that might make you cough, but which also provide the anti-oxidants that protect both the oil and your own body. The French Columella, and its pollinator, Aglandau, provide a more buttery fruitiness, with notes of apple and green banana, and much less bitterness and pungency. The resulting blend is a great complement to many cuisines.

4th Annual Snail of Approval Awards

Snail of Approval-Slow Food in Sonoma County honors our 2021 awardees.

Tickets

Join Slow Food Russian River and Slow Food Sonoma County North as we honor our 2021 Snail of Approval awardees:

4th Street Social Club

DMS Ranch, Sebastopol

Farm to Fight Hunger, Healdsburg

Geyserville Gun Club, Geyserville

Gradek Family Farm, Healdsburg

Jackson Family Gardens, Fulton

Little Paradise Farm, Sonoma

Patisserie Angelica, Sebastopol

Quail & Condor Bakery, Healdsburg

Relish Culinary Adventures, Healdsburg

SRJC Shone Farm, Forestville

Tallgrass Ranch, Sonoma

The Epicurean Connection, Sonoma

Following the presentation of awards, a reception will be held with displays and tastes from our awardees. Bites and beverages will round out the evening. Masks recommended.

In 2021 Snail of Approval-Slow Food in Sonoma County expanded to join the Slow Food International program and our businesses are now listed on Slow Food USA’s national Snail of Approval directory. An interactive Snail of Approval map allows users to find businesses across the US that are embracing the Slow Food values. To see the local Sonoma County map and a full list of Snail of Approval awardees visit our webpage.

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.

 

Cheese Class & More at The Epicurean Connection (a Snail of Approval business), Sonoma

We are pleased to offer a popular cheese-making class hosted by Sheana Davis, renowned cheesemaker, culinary educator, and founder of The Epicurean Connection. This event will also be a fundraiser for our chapter’s many projects.

Tickets

During the class, we will be divided into workstations; each station will make a 2-3# wheel of Creme de Ricotta, a fresh cow’s milk cheese. And each of us will take home some of the cheese, as well as whey, cheesecloth, cheese ladle, recipe card, and cheese trail map.

Bring a mason jar and cooler to take home a sample of the cheese.

When we finish making the ricotta, we’ll enjoy a tasting of Sheana’s artisan cheeses, salad, and wine.

Sheana Davis has enthusiastically supported the artisan and farmstead cheese movement for over 20 years. Together with Ben Sessions, they break down the barriers to cheese production by making it accessible, easy, and fun! They are offering this special class as a way of supporting Sonoma County North.

We’ll be in an open-air state-of-the-art artisan studio with plenty of parking.

Come to support our chapter’s projects and have fun, taste and learn, and have a hands-on interactive experience making cheese!