# Pavlova. Is it popular in Australia? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 4, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953 "2013-09-04T02:03:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/1 "2013-09-04T02:03:13Z")
I have an aunt in Australia. Many, many years ago after my mum visited her sister she came home with a recipe for Pavlova. (This was circa 1975.) She made it on a couple of occasions and I remember it being amongst the most delicious desserts I’ve ever eaten. Have you had pavlova? Is it as good as I recall? I think my mum’s version had peaches in it, if I recall. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/2 "2013-09-04T02:22:11Z")
In answer to your question…Yes. The good old Pav is the go-to desert for any social occasion. Personally, I can take them or leave them, but they are still very popular. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/3 "2013-09-04T02:26:38Z")
Yes it is. Hell, we still argue with the Kiwi’s about which country it originated in 😃 My sister used to make the shell herself but these days you can buy pre-made meringue shells from the supermarket and they work just as well. Most times we have a big family get-together: Xmas, Easter or a significant birthday there will be a ‘pav’ on the table for dessert. I don’t think we’ve ever had peaches on ours, usually it will be sliced banana, kiwi fruit and/or strawberries often with passionfruit seeds over the top. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/4 "2013-09-04T02:38:11Z")
They’re especially popular on Christmas Day, as a fancy dessert that can be eaten on a hot summer day. (Thouh some people still go for Christmas pudding, thinking they are still in the Northern Hemisphere.) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/5 "2013-09-04T02:55:15Z")
They’re still popular in NZ as well, although perhaps seen as a little old-fashioned. Personally I love them, especially with lots of whipped cream and strawberries. ---
**Author:** ![Gretel\_burps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Gretel\_burps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretel_burps)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/6 "2013-09-04T02:56:12Z")
It’s also the ‘national desert’ in NZ. Of course it originated in New Zealand, **Battle Pope** 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/7 "2013-09-04T03:28:40Z")
> [@Gretel\_burps](#): > > It’s also the ‘national desert’ in NZ. Of course it originated in New Zealand, **Battle Pope** 😃 Not arguing that at all. I just love the fact that when you look around the world and see all the wars and strife and border disputes - we argue about rugby, cricket and who invented the dessert we’ll be having after the BBQ. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/8 "2013-09-04T03:40:22Z")
My Dad’s only birthday wish one year was for Mum to make a pav every couple of months - with his birthday and Christmas both in December, all his pavs come at once and he wants to spread them across the year 🙂 My mum is a master pavlova maker, but the gene appears to have skipped me as I’ve never made one that wasn’t an unmitigated disaster. ---
**Author:** ![Wallaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/dc4da7/32.png) [@Wallaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallaby)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/9 "2013-09-04T05:36:08Z")
Bananas on a pav. That’s one I haven’t tried. I usually get the passionfruit, strawberry or Kiwi fruit versions. Banana sounds different. I’ll have to give it a go. But to answer the OP - oh yes. Always on a big family occasion where everyone brings something, the first question sorted is ‘Who’s doing the pav?’. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/10 "2013-09-04T05:40:21Z")
> [@Battle\_Pope](#): > > Not arguing that at all. > > I just love the fact that when you look around the world and see all the wars and strife and border disputes - we argue about rugby, cricket and who invented the dessert we’ll be having after the BBQ. 😃 We don’t have anything to argue about with regards to rugby and cricket. We know just how good we aren’t. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/11 "2013-09-04T06:09:43Z")
I’m a bit surprised there aren’t more answers per **lisiate**. My answer would be “used to be, back in the '70’s or earlier”. I haven’t seen one at a social gathering for many years. This may reflect my social habits or demographic, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/12 "2013-09-04T06:48:42Z")
Pav for social functions exists but generally is brought along by someone 60+. Young people tend to shy away from the sugar, damn health nazis… Pav deserves an acidic fruit topping to offset to litres of cream fat. So kiwifruit, tangerines, passion fruits etc are the go to fruit. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/13 "2013-09-04T07:54:58Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Pav for social functions exists but generally is brought along by someone 60+. Young people tend to shy away from the sugar, damn health nazis… > > Pav deserves an acidic fruit topping to offset to litres of cream fat. So kiwifruit, tangerines, passion fruits etc are the go to fruit. Pretty funny when all the calories are in the cream. One of those individual pavlova nests has about a quarter of the calories of a slice of bread. I often point out to people how silly their fear of sugar is. People are amazed to discover that 100gm of savoury crackers has the same calories as 100gm of sweet biscuits. The same thing applies to sugar free biscuits. Sure avoiding sugar is a good thing but its absence doesn’t make anything calorie free. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/14 "2013-09-04T11:32:34Z")
We make pavlovas in South Africa, too - mine are generally a mix of berries - strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and cherries, maybe some kiwis for colour and tartness. And the cream should be crème Chantilly or snowe (whipped mix of cream and eggwhites with sugar). I occasionally have it in a chocolate-coffee meringue nest and drizzle with Nachtmusick, if I want to be decadent. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/15 "2013-09-04T11:57:09Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Pav for social functions exists but generally is brought along by someone 60+. Actually I’ve just remembered that my mother made one for Xmas a year or two back. She is, needless to say, \*well \*over 60. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/16 "2013-09-04T12:08:16Z")
Pretty common on dessert menus here although only became so I’d say in the 1990s. Before that it was all Black Forest Gateaux. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/17 "2013-09-04T13:36:13Z")
Any family gathering where there wasn’t a pavlova and probably also a pavlova roll on the table for dinner would be very unusual, even in winter. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/18 "2013-09-04T22:09:46Z")
I’ve read about pavlova, and this sounds remarkably delicious and exotic to my American ears. Everything dessert-like that is typical in my corner of the world seems 9 out of 10 times to be chocolate/peanut butter/chocolate AND peanut butter. Cake, cookies, candy, ice cream. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/19 "2013-09-05T00:50:05Z")
Pavlovas are a bit old hat nowadays but I love 'em and can easily eat enough to make up for all the people who no longer like them. Never had one with peaches (yet!) but I do love pav with strawberries, passionfruit, kiwifruit - almost any fruit, really. I’ve never made one, myself, because I’d hate to spoil what is otherwise a really delicious dessert. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953/20 "2013-09-05T01:09:21Z")
One of my foster parents was from NZ and helped me make a pavlova once for some project in junior high. History, maybe? I don’t remember. It had sliced kiwi and was fantastic. I’ve only ever had the one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pavlova-is-it-popular-in-australia/667953.md?page=2)