Kathy Derrick and her sister Jac Jenkins, from Kerikeri’s Pavlova Press, have spent years putting together their labour of love book Pav Deconstructed - a delightful insight into the Kiwi classic Christmas dessert.
Kathy Derrick and her sister Jac Jenkins, from Kerikeri’s Pavlova Press, have spent years putting together their labour of love book Pav Deconstructed - a delightful insight into the Kiwi classic Christmas dessert.
Now, a new book produced in Kerikeri sheds some light on just how much New Zealanders love the meringue, whipped cream and fresh fruit dessert with plenty of pavlova recipes - and it also throws in another potential original source of the famous dish - Austria.
Like many good ideas, the genesis of the book Pav Deconstructed started over dinner, and just like a good pavlova, it took a wee while to get it right, 11 years in fact.
Kathy Derrick, and her sister Jac Jenkins - both writers - were at a Northland Writers conference in 2012 and over dinner with some other writers the topic turned to the pavlova. And it was clear that all of them had a pavlova story to tell - with Kathy telling of her ‘never fail’ pavlova recipe.
Kathy Derrick with the recipe Kiwi artist Dick Frizzell has contributed - from his mum - to the new book Pav Deconstructed.
“The pavlova just built those connections between us and somebody said ‘we should write a book on the pav’, but nobody did,’’ Derrick said.
“Then in 2017/18 four of us who were around that dinner table started talking about where the pav book was. So Jac and I decided to get it done.’’
They set up Pavlova Press in 2019 to publish the book and had a couple of trial runs with Scoria, a book with the sisters’ fast fiction work, and Ngā Ripo Wai - the Swirling Waters, about Kerikeri.
Then it was on to Pav Deconstructed, but it was not all plain sailing to get it to the publishing stage, with Covid putting many people’s plans on hold.
Pav Deconstructed is a new book from Kerikeri publisher Pavlova Press that has contributions on the classic dessert from 150 Kiwis.
Then there was the funding needed - a Pledge Me campaign saw that $12,000 raised with days to spare - and they needed some art direction, so in stepped local photographer Claire Gordon, with Derrick saying her artistic input helped shape what the book has become.
“At first we couldn’t see how it would all fit together because we didn’t have that art component to it. We couldn’t really start without a clear direction as to the artwork and Claire really brought it to life.
“We wanted it to be a coffee table book but really it’s a work of art as well as a book - it just took us two-and-a-half years (from starting the publishing company) to get to this point.’’
Derrick said it wasn’t hard to get people to contribute - they put out several social media posts calling for submissions - and all she had to do to get Dick Frizzell involved was to ask him. Many of the contributors are from Northland.
“That’s all we’ve had to do, ask people and they’ve been very forthcoming and happy to contribute.’’
She said that was an indication of just how much love Kiwis have for pavlova and the aim was to have the book out before Christmas. It’s being launched in Whangārei, at the Art Museum, and Wellington and Canterbury at 2pm on December 3. Other well-known contributors include Lucy Corry, Martin Doyle, Fifi Colston and Di Menefy, but for many others this is their first time being published.
Pavlovas are a Kiwi Christmas staple, and now a Kerikeri publishing house is about to launch a new book dedicated to the tasty dessert.
And this quirky Kiwi anthology shows pavlova is not just a dessert, it is community that means so much to so many people. So far the feedback had been wholly positive, even from some who were not necessarily pavlova fans.
“It’s not just pavlova recipes, there are some wonderful stories on the pavlova in there, from people who don’t like pavlovas to those who love them and some funny tales and poems. So it’s not just for pav lovers.”
