This Saturday (11 March) marks the start of the Wildfoods Festival in New Zealand. Held in the small west coast town of Hokitika on the South Island, the festival celebrates ‘wild’ food in all its diversity. Festival goers are tempted by a fascinating array of unusual dishes – worm sushi, barbecued huhu grubs and the famed ‘mountain oysters’ (lambs’ testicles) to name but a few.

This week at World on a Spoon however, it is pavlova time. When we came to choosing a New Zealand dessert it won hands down, possibly because here in Australia we consider it one of our national desserts as well. Just like that other culinary institution, the lamington, the origin of the pavlova has long been a source of friendly contention between the two nations.

When I was a child, I loved meringues. There was something almost magical about the way the crunchy exterior masked the soft, billowy sweetness within. I used to imagine that I was eating clouds whenever I ate one. Pavlova is meringue in fancy dress. It is a bridge between the adult and the child in us all. If you have never eaten pavlova before, imagine a giant meringue slathered in whipped cream and piled with an abundance of fresh berries. It’s perfection lies in its simplicity.

As with any of our desserts, you can go all out and make the flag version, or simplify the whole affair and just pile the cream and berries on top of your pavlova in any which way you please. If you choose this approach, you can reduce your preparation time by half.

We used Donna Hay’s delicious pavlova recipe as the base for this week’s dessert flag. Her original recipe can be found here.