New Zealand's claim to have invented the Lamington totally debunked

Beat this New Zealand!

Just when you thought New Zealand might have retreated from its time-honoured claims of one-upmanship against her continental cousin across The Ditch, one outrageous assertion has been well and truly debunked.

Although New Zealand may be able to lay claim to fame for the invention of the Pavlova, its unilateral declaration of having invented the humble Aussie lamington has been left floundering - even worse than the New Zealand cricket team on its best day!

When this bizarre gastronomic claim arose, blood boiled across all Australian communities, tempers flared relentlessly and every decent Kiwi tried to put on their best Australian accent to avoid ridicule and scorn flowing from almost every corner of every true-blue pub and club across the nation.

A well-presented story in The Guardian Newspaper suggested a primitive 1888 painting overlooking Wellington Harbour showed a half-eaten lamington on a side table, suggesting proof-positive that this pre-dated all Australian claims to have invented the humble lamington

This is how the story was revealed to the world:

Lamington invented in New Zealand, new research proves 'beyond doubt'

Watercolour painting shows coconut covered cake is not really Australian and is only an imitation of the earlier 'Wellington'

The 19th century watercolour painting by JR Smyth that University
 of Auckland researchers say shows a 'Wellington' cake (circled).
Photograph: University of Auckland

by Olaf Priol

The Lamington, Australia’s famed dessert, was actually invented in New Zealand and originally named a “Wellington”, according to new research published by the University of Auckland.

Fresh analysis of a collection of 19th-century watercolours by the New Zealand landscape artist JR Smythe, shows that in one portrait, “Summer Pantry” dated 1888, a partially eaten Lamington cake is clearly visible on the counter of a cottage overlooking Wellington Harbour.

The first known reference to a Lamington before this was a recipe published in 1902 in the Queensland Country Life newspaper. Historians had believed the Lamington was named after Lord Lamington who served as governor of Queensland between 1896-1901.

But experts at the University of Auckland have examined archives which show records of a visit Lamington undertook to Wellington in 1895, before beginning in his tenure as Queensland governor.

According to a New Zealand Herald news report of the visit, Lamington was “much taken with the local sweets provided him by local bakers A.R. Levin.”

Among those sweets, the article states, was a “Wellington – a double sponge dessert, dressed in shavings of coconut intended to imitate the snow capped mountains of New Zealand.”

Dr Arun Silva of the centre for academic knowledge, excellence and study at the University of Auckland, said the news clipping and Smythe watercolour made it “inconceivable” that the Lamington was an Australian invention.

“What we have here is conclusive evidence that the Lamington cake was in fact a product of New Zealand. The documentation of Lamington’s visit and the pictorial evidence in the watercolour prove it without a doubt.

“I wouldn’t exactly say it was a rewriting of history, more a realisation that our culinary past is much more entangled than we’d previously believed,” Silva said.

Silva, an expert in food history, said the dramatic discovery was likely to blow debate around whether it was Australia or New Zealand who invented the Pavlova “out of the sky”.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/01/lamington-invented-in-new-zealand-new-research-proves-beyond-doubt

This was too much for all true-blue Australian Lamington connoisseurs who rallied across the nation to debunk what appeared to be a spirited defence of New Zealand's only claim to fame since the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove in 1788.

But the Kiwis' burst of attempted stardom on the world gastronomic stage proved to be very short-lived when the name of the author of this outrageous article published on April 1, Olaf Priol, was closely examined. 

"Olaf Priol" is an anagram of the words "April Fool". 

Yes, our New Zealand cousins - and the Guardian Newspaper which had nearly committed Australia to World War III - had been outed.

Australia's honour had been restored.

The Kiwis ashamedly slunk off to eat their Pavlovas in the deserted cafes and restaurants of the Shaky Isles with national humiliation pervading their every waking moment.

And this early taste for fake news made later claims of fake news by Donald Trump look like a recycled diatribe!

© Paul Tully 2017