Anthropologist New Zealand and Australia have been arguing over the origins of the beloved pavlova for decades but that never fazed Helen Leach. The anthropologist, who died aged 80 in Christchurch on January 23, was renowned for her research on the origin of pavlova and Christmas cakes, although that was only a fraction of her interests, which also included prehistoric horticulture, human domestication, the evolution of human diet, the history of cooking, the origins of recipes and the development of kitchens in 19th and 20th century New Zealand. "Helen loved to take on controversial topics; the pavlova palaver is a good example of that," friend and colleague Dr Ian Frazer says. She challenged traditions with another of her books  Cultivating Myths: Fiction, Fact & Fashion in Garden History  (2000).…