The Pavlova consists on a base made of meringue and whipped cream and completed by several fruits such as kiwis, oranges, bananas, pineapples (do you remember why pineapples are called this way? Just see an older entry in this blog!!), etc which give the cake a delicious and tropical flavour.
The dessert was created in honour of the famous ballet dancer Anna Pavlova who visited Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. Curiously, the name of this dessert is pronounced /pævloʊvə/ or /pɑvloʊvə/ while the name of the famous artist was pronounced /pɑvləvə/ or /pævləvə/.
Precisely, both countries claim to have invented this dessert because it is an important part of their national cuisine and it is frequently served during festivals or celebrations.
Keith Money, who wrote the Pavlova´s biography, said in his book Anna Pavlova: Her Life and Art written in 1982 that a chef at a hotel in Wellington (New Zealand) created the dish in honour of Anna Pavlova when she visited his hotel in 1926.
In New Zealand, a cookbook published in 1926 by E. Futter titled Home Cookery for New Zealand contained a similar recipe for Pavlova but instead of using the name Pavlova, they used the name "Meringue with Fruit Filling".
Professor Helen Leach, a culinary anthropologist, published a book The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand’s Culinary History, in which stated that the first Australian pavlova recipe was created in 1935 while in New Zealand it already existed.
Against this hypothesis, a Harbert Sachse´s relative affirms that his predecessor created the dish at the Esplanade Hotel in Australia in 1935 in order to be served as a tea dessert for the Hotel’s afternoon teas. In order to claim the dish, a Sachse's relative wrote to Leach suggesting that Sachse had accidentally dated the recipe incorrectly. Leach replied they would not find evidence for that "because it's just not showing up in the cookbooks until really the 1940s in Australia."Taking into account such arguments, Matthew Evans, a food critic said that it was unlikely that a definitive answer about the pavlova's origins would ever be found.
The first known recorded recipe named "pavlova" was published in the fifth Australian edition of Davis Dainty Dishes in 1926. However this recipe was not similar to the one we actually have.
In conclusion, we can see here the influence of famous people in society. Probably you have wondered why the Pavlova is called so; it has a simple answer. Look at the first picture, Doesn´t it seem a tutu?. In case of you didn´t get it, I will explain you. It has the form of a tutu decorated with fruits. Can you see it now? On the other hand I want to focus on the international issue. Both countries want the recognition of the creation of the Pavlova, but my question is: If the cake is so delicious, why we don´t just eat it? Forget about the differences that separe you and just savour it!!
Postscript: warning! Please don´t see the pictures if you are hungry!
7 Comments:
I cannot continue seeing cakes!! All of them are so tempting... I'm going to go crazy!!
What i´m trying to do is a malevolous plan. Just think about these delicious fruits mixing in your mouth creating an incredible taste that you have never been tasted!! oh my God!! In addition,I have to say that it is very colourful and tasteful but the story that surrounds the cake is also very interesting.
Yes... I agree. There're a lot of people struggling to be their creators, so, the Pavlova must be fully popular!
It's the first time I hear about it though the name is very familiar for me. I really liked it very much!
In this story we can appreciate on the one hand, how famous people are so important that they are the inspiration for the choice of some dish names, and on the other, how people want to be famous up to the point of lying and wanting to be the creator of something they aren't. I never thought that a delicious cake like this could be a cause of dispute! Good and very interesting research! Congratulations Pablo!
Thank you very much , Lola. You have forgiven the fact that this is not the first research done about this cake as we can see in this entry. We also have to remark the role investigators have played in this research. Thanks to them because without their work probably I couldn´t have done this research!!
The Postcript should be at the beginning of the entry Pablo, haha.
Then, it couldn't be a postscript!! At the beginning he should have write a very big warning!!! =P
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