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The rich dairy products of New
Zealand are downright evil to those who are watching
their weight. Ice cream, specifically those which
are fruit flavored and loaded with real chunks of
fruits, is foremost among the national dessert
favorites.
Milk in all its creamy goodness are still sold in
glass bottles because the majority of New Zealanders
prefer them this way, but those in cartons are also
available although less popular.
There is also a
large variety of gourmet cheese including feta,
Camembert, Roman, Gouda, New Zealand blue vein,
Gruyere, Brie, and the ever popular cheddar. |
Each and every tea room in New Zealand offers a large choice
of cream filled cakes, fruit filled tarts, custards, and
cream buns. Pavlova, the popular traditional dessert,
consists of meringue filled with fresh fruit such as kiwi
fruit, strawberries, and passion fruit combined with whipped
cream. Pavlova is famous for being crunchy outside yet gooey
and soft inside.
Both the countries of New Zealand and Australia take great
pride in the creation of the Pavlova. In fact, natives of
each country debate over where the sinful dessert
originated. It is a well known fact tough that the dessert
was invented in honor of Russian prima ballerina, Anna
Pavlova, who in the 1920s visited New Zealand.
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As aforementioned, the Pavlova is a dessert based on
meringue and was named in honor of Anna Pavlova, the
world famous ballerina. Colloquially, it is
known as the “Pav” and is pronounced differently
from the way the name of the actual Pavlova is
pronounced.
The Pavlova is a popular dessert dish and an
integral part of both countries’ national cuisine,
and is almost always served during holidays or
celebratory meals such as dinner at Christmas.
The new Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, is
being bombarded with several challenges to diplomacy
and strives to take them all on stride.
But of all these challenges, the origins of a certain
meringue-based dessert garnished with tropical fruit and
cream is, at the moment, foremost on his mind. |
Mr. Key is annoyed by the long-standing claim of Australia
as the inventor of the Pavlova, which he rejected as
ludicrous.
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He advised his ally and neighbor to acquiesce the
New Zealand's origins of the dessert and to
relinquish other New Zealand treasured exports, such
as the legendary race horse, Phar Lap, which is also
being claimed by Australia.
Evidence newly gathered suggests that the Mr. Key is
probably right in his claim as far as the Pavlova is
concerned.
It has been a strong belief among Australians that
the famous dessert was created in 1935 by Bert
Sachse, a chef of the Esplanade Hotel in Perth, in
the Russian ballerina’s honor. Anna Pavlova visited
Australia in both 1926 and 1929. |
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Helen Leach, an Otago University of New Zealand academic,
has discovered a recipe of the Pavlova in a 1933 cookbook of
the Mother’s Union and also in a rural magazine which dates
back to 1929. Both refer to the dish as Pavlova and lists
all the exact ingredients employed by today’s cookbooks
using the same method of preparation.
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