Brazilian pavlova a great success

Brazilian students Ingrid Dios dos Santos (obscured) and Jaos Concalves Pereira cut a pavlova they baked for visiting Japanese students.

It was the ultimate meeting of cultures at Whanganui City College recently, when two Brazilian students made a New Zealand dessert for a group of Japanese students.

Joas Concalves Pereira and Ingrid Dios dos Santos served a classic Kiwi pavlova - complete with whipped cream and sliced kiwifruit - to around 20 students from Chitoku School, who were in Whanganui for two weeks.

Joas and Ingrid were set the challenge by their Whanganui City College food technology teacher Phil Hopkinson.

"We've been looking at different cuisines, and Jaos and Ingrid had a practice run of making a pavlova. So I thought it would be fun for them to make a couple of pavlovas for our Japanese students," Mr Hopkinson said.

Joas said he was "very nervous" about getting the pavlovas right.

"I am not used to doing cooking for other people," he said.

But Mr Hopkinson said Joas and Ingrid had done very well with the challenge.

"Pavlovas are not easy to make, and they often go wrong. But these were perfect - crisp on the outside and marshmallowy on the inside. The Japanese students loved them."

The pair got to eat their practice pavlova and said it was unlike anything they'd tasted before.

"It was very, very nice," Ingrid said.

Next the pair will learn how to make another Kiwi classic - fish and chips - and then the whole class will learn to cook some Brazilian food.

Joas and Ingrid are part of a 25-strong Brazilian contingent living in Whanganui and studying at City College for four months. They are part of a Brazilian government-funded programme which gives students from disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to experience a different culture.