Image: Watervale Hotel
This July, the Barossa and Clare Valleys are giving food lovers a reason to fill up the tank and hit the road – with sustainability at the heart.
Running across Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th July, ten Snail of Approval slow food-accredited venues, chefs and producers across the Barossa and Clare Valley are throwing open their doors for a weekend dedicated to good, clean and fair food. Think degustation lunches, winery tours, pierogi tastings and ice cream made from whole South Australian ingredients.
The team at Slow Food South Australia are the ones bringing this initiative to life. Part of the larger global Slow Food collective, Slow Food South Australia is a not-for-profit dedicated to celebrating and exploring a slower lifestyle, and a more purposeful, biodynamic approach to growing and using food.
“Slow Food… aims to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how it tastes,” shared the team
The Slow Food Weekend brings together accredited venues, chefs and producers from these two renowned South Australian regions, encouraging visitors to slowly make their way along the ‘snail trail’.
Here are some of the venues joining the weekend:
Barossa Valley
- Otherness in Angaston – serving their signature produce-driven menu all weekend, visitors can pop in to soak up their relaxed atmosphere and cellar door, or settle down as a place to stay during the weekend
- Edo Cucina in Lyndoch – this Italian gem, tucked inside the iconic 1968 Crown of the Barossa building, is offering a four-course Feed Me lunch for $69 per head on Saturday. Chef Edoardo’s handmade pasta and long-fermented Pinsa alone are worth the drive.
- Barossa Valley Ice Cream Company in Nuriootpa – scooping natural, South Australian-ingredient ice creams and sorbets from 12 am – 4pm Saturday and Sunday
- Ballycroft Vineyard and Cellars in Greenock – hosting free winery tours from 10.30am both days. Yes, free.
Clare Valley
- The UPPside in Penwortham – freshly crowned Best European Restaurant for 2026, this venue is running a three-course Feed Me lunch and dinner for $60 per head, featuring produce straight from their family farm.
- Café 1871 in Clare – alongside their regular menu, Slow Food SA members will receive complimentary tastings of house-made garden preserves when they take a trip to this intimate cafe.
- Polish Hill River Church Museum in Polish Hill River – on Sunday, this evocative setting becomes the host for a very special pierogi tasting with chef Judyta Słupnicka of SheChef, a nod to the deep Polish heritage of the region that is genuinely not to be missed.
- Watervale Hotel in Watervale – headed by chef Nicola Palmer for the weekend, she’ll be serving her well-crafted Winter Slow Food Yuletide Feed Me menu, using produce from Penobscot Farm, which operates on permaculture principles.
Slow Food SA members will score discounts across multiple venues – so if you’ve been sitting on the fence about joining the global movement, consider this your nudge.
Bookings are recommended (and in some cases essential), so get in quick.
Barossa and Clare Valleys Slow Food – Winter Snail Trail
Where: Multiple locations
When: 4th and 5th July
For more information, click here.
