The world's most famous ballet-related dessert was called the pavlova because the lightness of its meringue base was intended to invoke and honour the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova's trademark dying swan performance.
However, it could just as accurately been called the palaver. For most of the 80-odd years since its creation, Australians and New Zealanders have been locked in, at times, bitter debate about who invented it.
According to the Australians, the Perth chef Bert Sachse spent a month experimenting with the recipe in 1935 at the behest of his managers at the Esplanade Hotel.
The end result was so light that it was compared to and then named after the ballerina, who wowed the West Australian capital in 1929. (Sadly, Pavlova died two years later, after refusing treatment for pleurisy because she was told it might cost her the ability to dance.)
But when the 15,000 or so New Zealanders living in the UAE celebrate their national holiday of Waitangi Day, on Saturday, they can tuck into the dessert - topped kiwi fruit, of course - and silently thank a professor of anthropology at Otago University who has applied full academic rigour to settle the debate in their favour once and for all.
Professor Helen Leach, now retired, began collecting early New Zealand cookbooks when she was a cash-strapped newlywed, but over time that hobby and her profession coalesced into the field of culinary anthropology.
Apparently, the field was not initially taken very seriously in academic circles. "But the methods developed for analysing the history of recipes is straight out of archaeology," she explains. "Nobody had ever thought of applying it [to food] before. Recipes are like artefacts, except we eat the artefacts and all that's preserved are the recipes."
"I've always treated eating academically. I had a long involvement with archaeology relating to horticulture and I wrote my PhD on Maori kitchen gardens: 1,000 Years of Gardening in New Zealand. I've also written several books on the anthropology of European gardening style.
"I knew the only way I was going to persuade people that this was a serious investigation was to write an academic book. I put in very, very extensive footnotes and I entered more than 600 recipes on a spreadsheet. It was already clear that the meringue, a concoction of whipped egg whites and sugar, had been around for a long time, having first appeared in a cookbook in 1692 and named after its disputed point of origin, the Swiss town of Meiringen."
Leach's investigations unearthed the first dish named after Pavlova had emerged in New Zealand in 1926, the year she toured the country as part of a world tour that also included Australia, but it was a four-coloured jelly concoction invented by the Davis Gelatine company.
The first recognisable pavlova features in a 1928 cookbook from New Zealand, but involves a series of small meringues. The classic pavlova as it is now known - the size of a dinner plate and crisp on the outside but spongy on the inside, topped with cream and fruit - emerged the following year.
All of this came six years before the purported date of Burt Sachse's creation and 11 years before the first mention of a pavlova in an Australian cookbook.
Leach turned her research into a 60,000-word book, The Pavlova Story: A Slice of New Zealand's Culinary History, which all but the most nationalistic Aussies have conceded gives their Kiwi cousins bragging rights over the dish's provenance.
Even the last-ditch Australian claim that Sachse's recipe was the first to include a topping of passion fruit falls at the feet of Leach's research: among the 20 recipes she found in New Zealand cookbooks before the pavlova's appearance in Australia is one that includes a passion fruit topping.
She describes Sachse's efforts as "parallel evolution" rather than outright purloining. The pavlovas that will grace the table at the Waitangi Day gala at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club on Saturday and those which were served at the Australia Day celebrations last month are all different parts of the same happy meringue-dessert family.
Since her book was published early in 2008, nothing has yet emerged to challenge the claim of Kiwi provenance, although the story might still change further because of the haphazard way in which early cookbooks, often compilations for church fund-raising, were treated.
"For many years, many libraries wouldn't collect them, often because they were undated or falling apart or rotten because people spilt things on them when they cooked with them," Leach says.
"They're appreciated now. I have 1,600 to date and I've got another 200 to catalogue. A lot of people give them to me because they know they'll go to the library. I've been collecting them for over 30 years. Initially I never thought I might just use them."
The%20Roundup
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
French business
France has organised a delegation of leading businesses to travel to Syria. The group was led by French shipping giant CMA CGM, which struck a 30-year contract in May with the Syrian government to develop and run Latakia port. Also present were water and waste management company Suez, defence multinational Thales, and Ellipse Group, which is currently looking into rehabilitating Syrian hospitals.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scoreline:
Wales 1
James 5'
Slovakia 0
Man of the Match: Dan James (Wales)
It
Director: Andres Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Three stars
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
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The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat & Other Stories From the North
Edited and Introduced by Sjón and Ted Hodgkinson
Pushkin Press
World Cup final
Who: France v Croatia
When: Sunday, July 15, 7pm (UAE)
TV: Game will be shown live on BeIN Sports for viewers in the Mena region
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Buy farm-fresh food
The UAE is stepping up its game when it comes to platforms for local farms to show off and sell their produce.
In Dubai, visit Emirati Farmers Souq at The Pointe every Saturday from 8am to 2pm, which has produce from Al Ammar Farm, Omar Al Katri Farm, Hikarivege Vegetables, Rashed Farms and Al Khaleej Honey Trading, among others.
In Sharjah, the Aljada residential community will launch a new outdoor farmers’ market every Friday starting this weekend. Manbat will be held from 3pm to 8pm, and will host 30 farmers, local home-grown entrepreneurs and food stalls from the teams behind Badia Farms; Emirates Hydroponics Farms; Modern Organic Farm; Revolution Real; Astraea Farms; and Al Khaleej Food.
In Abu Dhabi, order farm produce from Food Crowd, an online grocery platform that supplies fresh and organic ingredients directly from farms such as Emirates Bio Farm, TFC, Armela Farms and mother company Al Dahra.
