Pavlova is most strongly associated with both Australia and New Zealand , and each country passionately claims to have invented it, so its exact origin is still debated rather than definitively settled.

Basic origin story

  • Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, created in her honor after her tours of Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s.
  • It has become part of the national food identity in both countries, especially for celebrations and summer holidays like Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere.

Australia vs New Zealand

  • New Zealand sources point to early pavlova-style recipes and cookbooks published there, plus a story of a Wellington hotel chef creating the dessert during Pavlova’s 1926 visit.
  • Australian stories highlight chef Bert Sachse in Perth, said to have created the dessert in the 1930s, with later claims that he may have done so earlier, after Pavlova’s Australian tours.

Deeper historical roots

  • Food historians have traced similar meringue, cream, and fruit desserts back to Europe and North America, such as the Austro‑Hungarian Spanische Windtorte and various “foam cakes” and cornflour-based meringues from the 19th century.
  • This research suggests pavlova evolved from older European and American meringue desserts, even though the modern named dish is claimed by Australia and New Zealand.

So where is pavlova “from”?

  • In everyday use, people commonly say pavlova is from Australia or New Zealand, often depending on their own nationality.
  • From a historical perspective, the dessert is best seen as a shared Antipodean icon with roots in older European meringue traditions, rather than a creation that clearly belongs to just one country.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.