In a country made up of over seven thousand six hundred islands, it seems incredible that over 90% of the Philippines’ salt is imported. But it wasn’t always that way. Until 30 years ago, local producers supplied around 85% of the country’s salt requirement and hundreds of Filipino families were producing artisanal sea salt. But in 1995, a law was passed, dictating that all salt in the Philippines had to be iodized to combat iodine deficiency. For 3 decades, only table salt was allowed. Artisanal sea salt-making had all but disappeared but there’s now a movement to revive their craft.

I was at the first ever Terra Madre Asia and Pacific in Bacolod, a city on Negros island in the central Visayas region. Terra Madre – Italian for Mother Earth – is the brainchild of the international Slow Food Movement. It has a rich menu of conferences, tastings, cooking demos, workshops, agro-environmental discussions, and a vibrant market where I got to discover some of those artisanal salts and salt producers.

First broadcast on PRX’s The World, 23rd April, 2026.

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The celebration of an Italian children’s classic.

Link to the full programme on Inside Europe, broadcast on 16 October 2025

https://www.dw.com/en/inside-europe/program-19041931

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Over the past few decades, there’s been a handful of female vocalists who’ve made such a huge musical impact, you only need say their first names and their voices instantly spring to mind: Aretha, Tina, Joni, Barbra … and Chaka.

Dubbed “the queen of funk soul”, Chaka Khan’s 35 year career has won her 10 Grammy awards – the American musical equivalent of the Oscar – 8 as a solo artist and two with her original band, Rufus.

She has a dozen solo albums and a stream of hit singles under her belt, but her last album was way back in 1998. Now, a decade later, she’s back with a new CD, Funk This, which has won this year’s Grammy award for best R&B album.

I grew up dancing round my bedroom to Chaka Khan’s records so I was overjoyed to meet my heroine just before one of her world tour concerts in the Italian city of Parma.

First broadcast 13th August 2008 on Arts on the Air.

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Giacomo Puccini was one of the most romantic composers of all time, born in the picturesque Tuscan town of Lucca. He was bewitched by the charms of nearby Lake Massaciuccoli. In 1898, he bought a house at Torre del Lago, overlooking his beloved lake, where he composed operas like Madame Butterfly, Tosca, and La bohème. During the summer months, Torre del Lago pays homage to its great maestro with the Festival Puccini, a season of open-air operas, staged by the lakeside.

This year, to mark the 150^th anniversary since the composer’s birth, the festival took place at a brand new open-air theatre.

First broadcast 16^th July 2008

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