The Tauranga Arts Festival programme has just launched with an entertaining, imaginative and inspiring line-up for all ages and budgets, including many free events. Check out our top picks.

Directly translated, strozzapreti means ‘strangle the priest’. An online search will show a variety of fascinating theories about how this pasta might’ve got this name!

Omanu School garden is one of seven local projects run by PiPS (People & Plants in Schools). We visited the kids in their outdoor learning environment to hear about the garden’s positive impact.

Iranians Taha and Hossein emigrated to New Zealand with their two daughters in 2012, in search of freedom and opportunity. They had just $20 left when Hossein finally got a job with Fonterra, and they’ve lived in Hamilton, Hawera and Te Awamutu while he’s moved up the ranks there. They now live in Tauranga, where Taha, an expert baker, makes delicious bread from around the globe for their businesss Zand Kitchen.

Maree Paynter has a slew of skills, from fixing machinery to nursing animals, but she’s now deep in the world of mead making, launching Bee First Aparies with her beekeeping husband, Craig Lovell.