Amy Eber visits Flaach, known as the “asparagus capital” of Switzerland, north of Winterthur. She gets a personal tour of the famous Spaltenstein family asparagus farm, the only farm in the country to solely raise asparagus, where she learns just how difficult it is to grow this tasty vegetable. The Spaltensteins reveal to her how white asparagus is grown, harvested and prepared for market.

This week Amy Eber visits a longtime WRS listener, Virgina Ward, who turned a hobby for cooking up delectable food into a small business. Ward lives in a rural agricultural village about 30 minutes outside Geneva. She produces mainly seasonal soups, jams and chutneys, using local ingredients as much as possible. Her new website, The Adaptable Friend, promotes terroir cuisine (food from the land) and eating locally. 

From toads to magic potions and crutches: in times gone by people in need resorted to a number of different remedies and supports, as an exhibition in Einsiedeln shows.

Passengers arriving at Swiss airports will in future be able to make purchases at duty-free shops, the government has decided.

The financial and cosmopolitan hub of Switzerland is undergoing a major transformation, as exemplified by the sizeable construction sites that punctuate the city, promising to remake its landscape. Brand new districts are being planned all around the centre of Zurich, luxury hotels are about to open and a novel new rooftop thermal spa is among the new attractions for this vibrant and economically healthy metropolis.

Zurich's exclusive Bahnhofstrasse has had a Christmas lighting makeover after the previous modern design - a row of tubes along the street - flopped with the public

A Swiss government scheme for improving road safety is heading to parliament, but the way forward looks long with reactions so far only lukewarm.

Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Drivers who follow other cars too closely on highways are committing a "serious" and not a "moderately serious" crime and should have their drivers licenses lifted for three months, the Swiss high court in Lausanne has ruled.

Expatica (CH):"Police in Switzerland said Monday that they had seized a Swedish motorist's 180,000 euro (240,000 dollar) sports car after he was caught doing 290 kilometres per hour (180 mph) on a Swiss motorway. (...)
Police in the western canton of Fribourg said in a statement that the 37 year-old driver had to be stopped by a neighbouring police force last Friday after he shot past a permanent speed trap.
His driving licence and 570-horsepower black Mercedes-Benz were seized after he was released from custody, and he could face a fine of up to one million Swiss francs (720,000 euros, 962,000 dollars) depending on his income."

Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The driving age in Switzerland should be reduced to age 16 under certain circumstances says the automobile association, the Touring Club Suisse.