There Is No Occasion That a Pavlova Doesn’t Add to

“Most New Zealand and Australian rivalries are fought on the rugby field, the cricket pitch or the netball court,” according to the Vancouver Sun’s Tracey Tufnail, who includes her own family’s recipe for the dessert. “On the battleground of antipodean kitchens, no one dish is more fought over than the pavlova.”

“Culinary anthropologist Helen Leach (a New Zealander who wrote a book called The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand’s Culinary History) says the earliest recipe for pavlova was published in 1929 in New Zealand Rural Magazine, with the first Australian recipe not published until 1935.

“Everyone agrees the dessert was named for Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured both countries in 1926.

“I grew up in New Zealand, and have lived and worked in Australia. On both sides of the Tasman Sea, pavlova was the star of every celebration dinner table, every ‘bring a plate’ meeting and many a morning tea ‘shout’ at work.

“There is no occasion that a pavlova doesn’t add to – it can be glammed up for a formal affair, or casually tossed on a paper plate at a picnic.”

Original article by Tracey Tufnail, The Vancouver Sun, February 19, 2015.