Snail of Approval

The Slow Food Snail of Approval award is a recognition given to food and beverage establishments that are pursuing and practicing Slow Food values in their business. This is more than about making good food — it’s about making commitments to the environment, local communities, employees and purveyors, and our core values of antiracism and anti-oppression. 

The Snail of Approval award is given by local chapters based on evaluations focused on the following six areas: sourcing, environmental impact, cultural connection, community involvement, staff support, and business values.

Boulder County snail of approval

Calling all restaurants, bars, food and beverage establishments, local farms, breweries, coffee shops, food trucks, wineries, and other food producers that are pursuing and practicing Slow Food values in their business: Slow Food Boulder County’s Snail of Approval is now available.

Businesses awarded a Snail of Approval are recognized on the Slow Food Boulder County, Slow Food Denver and Slow Food USA websites, receive a Snail of Approval window sticker to display, shout-outs on Slow Food Boulder County’s social media channels, and we are partnering with Slow Food Denver. The Snail of Approval award is active for two years. Re-application is required for all businesses after the two years.

Slow Food Boulder County encourages any Boulder area food businesses or organizations that produces and/or offers food for public consumption, is pursuing and practicing Slow Food values of good, clean, fair food for all, and has been open for at least one year to apply. Awards will be given on a rolling basis. Slow Food staff and/ or board will conduct site visits of applicants.

Interested businesses should apply here (30-45 minute application). Or, email Amy Solan at amy@slowfoodboulder.org

BoCo 2023 AWARD RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to the 2023 Snail of Approval awardees! 

Sunflower Farm: We absolutely love Sunflower Farm, and all of the work that they are doing to educate children in our community on where their food comes from. They foster joy for so many in our area. We are excited to see how they continue to grow in thoughtful ways.

La Musette @ the Wheelhouse: Chef and owner, Skyla Olds takes tremendous care in everything she creates. This food truck may seem tiny, but her flavors are mighty! She sources locally and truly cares about Good, Clean and Fair food for all!

Know your Roots Healthy by Design: We will always use the freshest ingredients sourced from local, small and organic farmers whenever possible. No additives or preservatives EVER! Every jar is made with care.  Quality is guaranteed and we will never compromise profits over quality. Add a little flavor to your healthy lifestyle!

Bee Squared: The mission of Bee Squared is to “Bee Exponentially Better” as defined by the following: We will sustainably produce, source, harvest, pack and distribute hive products. We will provide our employees with a compensation and benefit package that exceeds the industry standard. We will donate a minimum of 2% of revenue to pollinator causes.

Masa Seed Foundation: We believe access to locally adapted; heirloom seed is a human right. MASA has solidified a Front Range Seed Bank of open pollinated, locally adapted heirloom farm grown, rigorously selected seeds.

Our Mission is to enable a vibrant, local food system for the Front Range with a bio-regional seed bank driven by strategic farm designs for the production of organic seeds, plants and produce.

Community Table Farm: Our mission for the Community Table Farm is to inspire and empower our community to gather around local, healthy food through experiences in growing, preparing and enjoying delicious fresh meals directly from the farm.

CrossCut Pizzeria & Taphouse: This little mountain pizzeria sources as locally as possible, especially in the winter. They support high country farmers and ranchers in Colorado. Located in Nederland, Colorado this pizzeria is a wonderful place to meet friends and stop by for a slice after a day of skiing.

Urban Field Pizza & Market: We’re so much more than great pizza!  With a chef-driven and guest-facing approach, Urban Field Pizza and Market offers unique interpretations and cultural twists of grandma’s classics utilizing local, fresh ingredients. In our market, you’ll find meals for home, soups and sauces and pantry items from our kitchen as well as a variety of products from local business partners—bouquets of flowers from Lyons, heirloom tomatoes grown a few miles away, honey from a beekeeper in the neighborhood.
Our unique approach to hospitality embraces the immediate and on-demand nature of modern society by employing diverse and flexible service models. Built on pillars of kindness, acceptance, patience, and empathy, Urban Field provides hospitality grown from connection and common sense while offering service and meal options for all lifestyles and occasions. Located in downtown Longmont, Colorado.

Moxie Bread Co.: Whether 100% whole wheat, a mix of flours, or gluten-free, all of our bakery products begin with organic, unprocessed grains. We work directly with family farms (across Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota) to ethically grow and source high-quality grains for all our baking. Moxie uses 100% HEIRLOOM GRAINS From the stories of gluten-sensitive customers to the research of leading scientists, we have many reasons to believe that heirloom grains (which pre-date the 1960s/70s industrialization of American agriculture) are easier to digest and provide greater nutritional benefits than modern grain varieties. All of our breads undergo a long, slow fermentation process. This process essentially pre-digests the grains, increasing the bioavailability of their nutrients. It also decreases any inflammatory qualities, making our breads more tolerable for individuals who are sensitive to processed white flour breads.

Nude Foods Market: Nude Foods Market is Boulder's first zero waste grocery store and delivery service. Everything is packaged in returnable, reusable containers that customers bring back to wash, sanitize, refill and put back into circulation. So far they have saved nearly 200,000 pieces of packaging! Nude Foods is a full service store with everything from prepared meals and produce, cleaning and beauty products to school-friendly snacks and general groceries.

2022 Snail of Approval Awardees:

Farow Restaurant: They believe in working with the absolute best ingredients and treating them with the utmost care. All food has a season in which it is at it best and brightest. Each ingredient we cook with is completely seasonal and grown or raised as close to the restaurant as we can get it. Because of this, our menu will be forever changing as things come and go out of season. We honor this philosophy year round and strive to support our local community.

Blackbelly Market: Blackbelly works exceptionally close with local ranchers and farmers primarily within a few miles of the restaurant. These farmers provide an amazing example of Colorado’s bounty, and what they cultivate directly effects the menu decisions the chefs make on a regular basis.

24 Carrot Bistro: Our approach to food is simple; farm to table, fresh, seasonal and local. We believe in using the highest quality ingredients sourced and grown sustainably. We offer a broad menu of chef inspired appetizers, small plates, and entrees in a refined, casual atmosphere. With outstanding quality, you’ll find a wide variety of fresh seafood, locally sourced vegetables, and antibiotic and hormone free meats and poultry.

Fortuna Chocolate: Fortuna was born on a bicycle in the streets of Tokyo and at a long wooden table in the Danish countryside. It was born on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and in the forests of the Rocky Mountains. We are questing for the answer and each step we take new worlds open, unknown narratives reveal themselves and we come closer to the whole story. Cacao is our medium. Witness to our story and elder, we sit at the feet of its wisdom. Bloodied by human hands and talisman of our ceremonies, cacao is already answering our questions. Arriba el cacao, gracias por iluminar el camino.

Pastificio: When they committed to launching Pastificio Boulder in 2018, neither Claudia nor Ted knew how fast it would grow. Yet by reimagining a pantry staple, they have joined an influential community of entrepreneurs and activists seeking to eliminate the negative nutritional and environmental impacts of our mass-produced food system. Along the way, they’ve partnered with like-minded farmers committed to growing organic, heirloom grains. They’ve milled their own fresh flour and experimented with numerous small-scale pasta production and drying techniques. Most importantly, they’ve discovered that making nutrient-dense artisanal pasta—much like slow-fermented bread or natural wine—is a process that can’t be automated. From the protein content of each season’s wheat, to the ever-changing humidity of their production kitchen, each box of Pastificio Boulder dried pastas is attentively crafted by human hands to nourish your friends and family.

The Mountain Fountain: The Mountain Fountain is a country store featuring an eclectic mix of regionally sourced food and gift items. Featuring a gluten free bakery; a coffee bar; a wide variety of bottled drinks; a deli with sandwiches made-to-order and a butcher shop with locally pastured meats, including 100% Grass fed beef and lamb. We support our local Hygiene farms and ranches, as well as many Colorado and regional food producers and makers.

GB Culinary: Our approach is guided by experience, philosophy and flexibility. We choose to run our own farm and contribute to our local food system because it provides the highest quality ingredients, a chef's dream. But the effort is more than a matter of supporting our chef's French techniques and Southern staples. Farming is a practice that connects us to where we live and calls forth creativity when it presents limitations. We learn more about true Colorado cuisine when we follow what's coming up in our fields and on our partners' farms. We use the best of our bounty, so our clients' menus are marked by the very date they chose for their event. We repurpose our failures for pig feed and compost. From scratch technique starts with seed charts, piglets and being neighborly. Boutique means we don't scale up, rather we embrace why we do what we do. It's how we bring you the curated experience you're looking for.

Dryland Distillers: Dry Land Distillers is a craft distillery in the heart of downtown Longmont, Colorado that produces unique spirits influenced and inspired by Colorado’s landscapes. With a focus on single grain 100% wheat whiskeys, prickly pear cactus spirits, native Colorado gin, and pure cane sugar rum, Dry Land spirits represent the authentic flavors of the American West.
We produce every spirit we sell, down to the bitters we use in cocktails in our tasting room. Our spirits are available at local restaurants and watering holes, by the bottle at our distillery, and at your favorite bottle shops throughout the Front Range.

Whistling Boar: Celebrating Colorado Farms - Creating Soulful Food Experiences. Dedicated to sustainable hospitality practices and building community with Colorado farms to provide farm to fork experiences one plate at a time.

Project Umami: Project Umami started to fulfill a desire to provide food as a service in a manner that improves the health of others. The health of the environment and our relationship with the environment our food comes from the impetus behind the Project Umami launch. Griffin Giordano’s inspiration from his own upbringing is also responsible, as a doctor’s son he saw first-hand the impact it’s possible to have on somebody’s life through the work one performs. And that is really what they intend to do. Both through the provision of the product itself and also through conversation inherent through operation in the sphere of the food world.

Interested in applying? Click here