SA's National Braai Team to head to the USA
South Africa's Team ChesaNyama Braai-B-Que will officially be representing South Africa in the USA during October 2013 at the World Food Championships in Las Vegas and the Jack Daniel's World Barbeque Invitational in Lynchburg, Tennessee.
BraaiBoy and Borries
The team will consist of a total of eight South Africans, with four spaces up for grabs at four regional 'braai-offs' taking place during August 2013 at selected ChesaNyama stores. The top three contestants from each region earn the chance to compete at the final 'braai-off' in Rosebank on 7 September 2013 with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of representing South Africa in the USA.
Taking SA flavours to the US
Taking on the USA and the world in these competitions will be quite a challenge as the team will be preparing American style barbeque in the form of smoked cuts of meat such as ribs, brisket and pork. The local competitions will test the entrants' knowledge on their own choice of meat for the coals, preparation of a sauce from scratch, and a final challenge of all preparing the same cut of meat with the sauce created in the second challenge. "We have perfected our 'smoking' know-how on the Weber Smokey Mountain and with the generous support of Weber in both the USA and South Africa, we will be up to the task," says Borries who together with BraaiBoy will captain the team. Having recently won the popular Bring&Braai competition on DStv's kykNET, Borries brings much-needed knowledge to the team for the task at hand.
Co-captaining the team and official cheerleader will be the well-known BraaiBoy who entered the Guinness Book of Records in 2012 when he was awarded the world record for the longest continuous braai. He brings a wealth of knowledge related to meat, its preparation for coal and wood braaing, and is by far SA's most prolific braaier, having documented online his challenge to braai every single day since 17 April 2009. "We're going to compete against the Americans at their own game, and we relish the opportunity to show them what it is we do best in South Africa. We are known as a braaing nation, and we're taking the challenge to them, in their own backyard," says BraaiBoy of the upcoming competitions. "We look forward to finding some superior braai specialists at the regional competitions to be part of the team," he concludes.
The team is scheduled to leave for Lynchburg on 21 October and will travel the 2000 miles between the two competitions in RV's which will allow them to not only braai every day during their trip, but also spread a little South African culture along the way.
Dates and venues for the braai-offs
The National Braai Team braai-offs 2013 will take place at the following ChesaNyama stores:
- Free State (Bloemfontein, Ella Street): Saturday, 10 August
- Gauteng (Melrose, Corlett Drive): Saturday, 17 August
- North West (Potchefstroom, Riverwalk Mall): Saturday, 24 August
- Gauteng (Brakpan, Carnival Mall): Saturday, 31 August
The South African National Braai Team will be chosen and announced at the finals on Saturday, 7 September 2013 at ChesaNyama Rosebank, Corner Tyrwhitt Ave & Keyes Street, with contestants having just three hours to impress the judges and secure their place on the team.
Entries to the competition are available at ChesaNyama stores nationwide and online. For more information and to enter online, go to www.braai-b-que.co.za.
