SYDNEY - First they tried to claim credit for the pav, now the Aussies are insulting our kiwifruit.
Australia's best-known cookery writer, Margaret Fulton, says New Zealanders have "really lost the plot" in claiming that we invented the pavlova.
"I don't care what the New Zealanders claim, the pavlova was invented inWestern Australia," she said.
"Everyone knows it's an Australian dish. What's more, New Zealanders don't have our passionfruit, which makes the pavlova so good.
"All they have is that dreary kiwifruit. They really have lost the plot."
Her outburst followed the Sydney Morning Herald's lambasting the Museum of New Zealand for calling its first birthday pavlova "a great Kiwi icon."
Despite Kiwi evidence to the contrary, Fulton insists the pavlova was inspired by the great Russian dancer Anna Pavlova, who toured New Zealand and Australia in 1926.
The Australians say chef Herbert Sachse invented it at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth in 1935.
Fulton says the pavlova was inspired by Pavlova's portrayal of a dying swan, the hard fringe of meringue supposed to represent the ballerina's tutu.
But according to Blenheim researcher John Adeane, pavlova was definitely invented in New Zealand - at least eight years earlier.
"A dessert of the same ingredients and composition as pavlova had been made in New Zealand for some years ... before the recipe appeared on page 141 of E Futter's Home Cookery for New Zealand, published in 1926," he says.
And Fulton's claims have received a stinging rebuke from the New Zealand Herald food editor, Sarah-Kate Lynch. "Those Australians. It's so typical. They're always trying to steal our best ideas.
"Every New Zealand child grows up with pavlova. There was never any suggestion that it came from Australia. It wouldn't have tasted any good if it had been Australian.
"And the correct topping is kiwifruit, or perhaps seasonal berries." - NZPA
