Filling the Sink

Forty years ago, on July 12th, 1984, the first baby was born through assisted reproduction in Barcelona and in all of Spain.

At the time, the news of a couple seeking help to conceive at the Barcelona Dexeus private hospital made headlines everywhere. But a lot has happened since then: in 2006, assisted reproduction became available for free through the public health system throughout Spain. Later, in 2016, a change in the law also made it possible for single mothers and queer couples to avail of the service, and by 2023, thanks to the so-called Spanish “trans law,” trans people had also gained access.  

Today, the Spanish government estimates that around 10% of all babies born in Spain are the result of assisted reproduction, and that number is growing every year.

Cillian Shields joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to chat about the system of assisted reproduction in Catalonia, how it has evolved over time, what the different types of treatment mean, and why it brings people from all over the world to Catalonia.

We will also talk to Anna Veiga, the pioneering Catalan doctor and biologist who led the first IVF birth in all of Spain, and Dr. Federica Moffa, the medical director of the private fertility clinic Fertilab, about reproductive tourism.

For the first time in the history of Filling the Sink, this episode will be the first of two dedicated to a single topic, so remember to stay tuned for the next episode, where we talk to four women about their experiences with assisted reproduction in Catalonia. 

This week’s Catalan phrase is “donar a llum”, which literally means “to give to light” and is the Catalan way of saying “to give birth.”

Get in touch with the podcast team: [email protected]

For more than 200 years, Catalans have celebrated the sky-reaching tradition of castells, literally castles in Catalan, when groups of people gather to climb on top of each other to build the highest castle.

Although the tradition suffered waves of decline up to the point of disappearance, it experienced a renaissance in the 1980s, and in 2010 UNESCO included castells on its list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity,  bringing the popularity of human towers’ popularity to unprecedented heights.

Lea Beliaeva Bander is joined by Oriol Escudé Macià to chat out the ins and outs of castells, including learning vocabulary such as “colla”, “pinya”, “enxaneta”, and “gamma extra”, and finding out who the typical casteller is, and much more.

We talk to one of the largest "colles", or castells groups, the Castellers de Vilafranca, about the importance of good mental health when doing the activity, and we also talk to Stephen “Cuss” Anderson, the president of the Castellers of London, who brought the towers overseas after seeing castells in their hometown of Valls near Tarragona.

This week’s Catalan phrase is “per pinya,” which means “to stick together” or “support each other” typically in challenging situations, and is an expression that is used both inside and outside of the castells.

Get in touch with the podcast team: [email protected]

This year marks the 74th edition of the world’s largest motor racing event, the Formula One World Championship.

Since 1991, the Spanish Grand Prix has been held at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit in Montmeló, half an hour north of the Catalan capital.

However, this year could be one of the last times the Spanish race is held in Catalonia, as Madrid has signed a new ten-year deal with Formula One.

But with the future uncertain, the event could also be shared between the two cities, similar to the arrangements from 1969 to 1975 and later, from 2008 to 2012, when F1 races were held in both Barcelona and Valencia.

Faced with the threat of losing the F1, the organizers brought the excitement to the heart of Barcelona, inviting fans to the Formula One Fan Village in the Plaza Catalunya Square and later, showcasing the horsepower of some of the race cars with a spectacular road show on the Catalan capital’s central Passeig de Gràcia boulevard.

The event sparked excitement among fans, who gained exclusive access to an otherwise expensive event, as well as frustration among environmentalists, who argued that it was another part of the privatization of public spaces in Barcelona.

Gerard Escaich Folch joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to chat about the history, present, and future of the Spanish Grand Prix.

We capture the excitement of F1 fans and the noise of engines and tires during the roadshow and hear from protesting environmentalists. 

We also talk to David Vàzquez, the president of the Vallès Oriental Hotels Guild, who explains the economic consequences of moving the Spanish Grand Prix from the Barcelona-Catalunya racetrack.

The Catalan phrase of the week is the Formula One appropriate “Fer una parada a boxes”, which means to “make a pit stop.”

Get in touch with the podcast team [email protected].

Barcelona’s haute cuisine restaurant ‘Disfrutar’ has been named the World’s Best Restaurant in the 22nd edition of the prestigious ranking “The World’s 50 Best Restaurants.”

With this accolade, head chefs and creators Mateu Casañas, Oriol Castro, and Eduard Xatruch have added another star to the Catalan culinary constellation, joining the ranks of renowned establishments such as  El Bulli, el Celler de Can Roca, and many others.

The name “Disfrutar”, which means “enjoy” in Spanish, reflects the restaurant’s philosophy of offering visitors an extraordinary dining experience that goes beyond just food, tapping into their senses, emotions, and memories.

Gerard Escaich Folch joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to chat about the restaurant’s gastronomic success and its origins.

We also visit Disfrutar, located in the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample district, and catch up with Eduard Xatruch, who shares some of the secrets behind the exclusive eatery and explains what guests can expect when they walk through the doors.

This week, Xatruch brings us the Catalan phrase: “No diguis blat fins que estigui al sac i ben lligat,” which literally translates to “Don’t say wheat until it’s harvested and secured,” akin to the English “Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched.”

Get in touch with the podcast team: [email protected]

For the past four days, EU citizens have been casting their ballots in the European Parliament elections. In Catalonia and the rest of Spain, Sunday, June 9th was the big day.

Gerard Escaich Folch joins Lea Beliaeva Bander the morning after for a Filling the Sink post-election special to break down the results in Europe, Spain, and Catalonia.

Millions of people have flocked to polling stations across the European Union to make their voices heard, and in Spain’s case, to elect the 61 representatives for Spain in the European Parliament.

The main issues in this election cycle were the war in Ukraine, arms versus defense, the Green Deal, migration, and the rise of the far right all over the Union.

In Spain, the results showed a narrow victory for the right and far-right parties, while the Socialists secured a majority in Catalonia.

We hear reactions from all the Catalan parties that made it cut, including the far-right anti-establishment party Se acabó la Fiesta, as well as the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

We discuss what the ballot results will mean for European politics over the next five years and how it could all affect Catalonia.

The Catalan phrase of the week is ‘L’Oda a l’Alegría’ or ‘Ode to Joy’ in English, which was originally composed by Beethoven in 1823, with words adapted from a 1785 poem by Friedrich Schiller, and adopted as the Anthem of Europe in 1972 by the European Council and later by the European Union.

Get in touch with the podcast team: [email protected]

On May 30th, under sun, thunder, and lightning, Primavera Sound, the biggest festival in Spain descended on Barcelona’s Parc del Fòrum for the 22nd time, kicking off this year’s summer festival season in Catalonia.

With a solid mix of Catalan summer hits, rock bangers, catchy pop tunes, and international names such as Lana Del Rey, Pulp, Deftones, and Troye Sivan, the 268,000 attendees were in for the party of the year.

We talk to the up-and-coming Catalan artist Mama Dousha, whose infectious dance tune ‘Rikiti’ has everyone on the dancefloor, about what it is like being a new artist in Catalonia and his decision to sing in Catalan instead of English.

Oriol Escudè Maciá joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to teleport listeners back to a weekend of music and fun, and to give a rundown of all the biggest concerts and festivals in Catalonia this summer.

The Catalan phrase of the week is “Qui canta, els seus mals espanta”, which literally means “He who sings, scares away his troubles,” similar to “to sing away your pain.” 

Get in touch with the podcast team: [email protected].

Since 1980, at the end of May, the western Catalan city of Lleida becomes the snail center of Catalonia, where hundreds of people get together to celebrate the annual Catalan Snail Gathering, or l’Aplec del cargol in Catalan.

Fans of the tiny molluscs unite for a weekend of gastronomy, but also of competitions, concerts, and the Catalan human towers, castells.

For this last edition of the festival, a whopping 15 tons of snails were devoured by hungry participants, many of whom washed down the delicacy with cold beer.

Oriol Escudé Macià and Ona Van Dyck join the festivities at the world’s largest snail-eating fest and return to Barcelona to talk about the experience with host Lea Beliaeva Bander.

We talk to different colles and attendees at the Aplec and get deep into all things snail, from how to cook and eat them to their health benefits and snail farming, and we answer pressing questions such as what do snails taste like, and are Catalans the world’s biggest snail eaters?

The Catalan phrase of the week is, fittingly, ‘enganyar com als cargols’, which literally translates to ‘to deceive like snails’ and means to betray someone’s trust.

Tune in to find out how the phrase relates to this week’s podcast.

Finding affordable housing has long been a problem in Catalonia and Spain, and in March, the Spanish government introduced a reference index for rent prices to keep them from rising.

But the new rent cap created loopholes and had the opposite effect of increasing prices on short-term leases, while long-term housing became even harder to find.

In response, the Catalan government rushed through regulations but failed to garner the support to make it a permanent law.

Cillian Shields and Ona Van Dyck join Lea Beliaeva Bander to explain the different housing laws and highlight the huge gap between the law and reality.

We hear from Barcelona real estate agent Tine Mathiessen, and Carme Arcarazo of the Catalan Tenants’ Union, as well as the experiences of Catalan renters.

The Catalan phrase of the week is ‘- Què hem de fer? Vendre la casa i anar de lloguer’, which means “What should we do? Sell the house and go rent” is a rhyming answer to a question you don’t know the answer to.

The Catalan snap election is over, and the voters gave the Catalan Socialist Party, PSC, a whopping 28% of the vote, which translates into 42 seats. But falling short of an absolute majority of 68 seats, the results mean that the Socialists now have to find new alliances to form a government.

This episode of Filling the Sink was recorded bright and early on the first morning of the new political cycle.

Gerard Eschaich Folch joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to break down the election results and answer the question: who will govern Catalonia for the next four years and what is in store for us?

The early May elections, the result of a failed budget deal in the Catalan Parliament in March, showed how the Catalan independence parties seem to have lost momentum, even though Junts+Puigdemont for Catalonia won three more seats compared to 2021.  

The biggest loss was seen in the left-wing Esquerra Republicana, a party that went from governing to losing 13 seats, while the anti-capitalist formation CUP lost half of its seats, ending up with only 4.

At the same time, the conservative pro-unionist People’s Party celebrated its biggest victory in years with 12 new seats, becoming the fourth largest party in the Catalan parliament, while the far-right VOX maintained its 11 seats from the last cycle.

The biggest surprise was the entry of the far-right pro-independence party Aliança Catalana, which won 2 seats in Catalonia.

We will hear the reactions from all the major presidential candidates and talk about what coalitions we can expect - with some being more likely than others.

The Catalan phrase of the week is ‘colze a colze’ which means arm in arm, something the parties will now have to do to form a lasting coalition.

On May 11, we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Catalan artist Salvador Dalí, whose influence on the art world continues to captivate audiences worldwide.

The surrealist painter was born in the northern Catalan town of Figueres, but spent most of his life in the picturesque coastal towns of Cadaques and Port Lligat, from where he drew much of his inspiration.

Although Dalí was best known for his surrealist art and eccentricities - including his mustache, which we will talk about - there is so much more to discover. 

In this episode of Filling the Sink, we delve into the life and art of Salvador Dalí. 

From his formative years studying Fine Arts in Madrid, to his contributions to Surrealism after going to Paris, to his experimental years in the United States, before returning and settling down in northern Catalonia and creating his own legacy.

Oriol Escudé Macià joins Lea Beliaeva Bander to expand on several of the late surrealist’s motifs, from melting clocks to eerie mountain landscapes.

We will also recount some anecdotes from Dalí’s life, such as his protest against his art teachers or his deep wounding by the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud after their first meeting.

We talk to art historian Mariona Seguranyes about Gala Dalí and her significant role in the artist’s life.

And we take listeners inside Salvador and Gala’s house in Port Lligat, as well as their Theatre-Museum in Figueres, where Oriol has a surrealist experience of his own. 

This week’s Catalan phrase is “per art de màgia” which means “magically”.